AN EXTRAORDINARY SERVICE.
By Editor
The Missionary Herald for August has the following account of what was indeed a most peculiar service:— "In May last an extraordinary service was witnessed in the great Buddhist temple at Ikegami, Japan. It seems that nearly twenty years ago the United States ship Oneida was sunk on the Japanese coast, and recently in the raising of the vessel the remains of many officers and sailors who were drowned were recovered. The Japanese conceived the idea, out of respect to the memories of the men thus lost, of holding a memorial service after the Buddhistic rites. They therefore made elaborate arrangements, and the ceremony is said to have been as imposing as any religious service ever witnessed by foreigners in Japan. Seventy-six priests in full canonicals took part, and there was a large attendance of natives as well as foreigners. "The admiral of the American flagship, with his contingent from the United States man-of-war, was present; an address in English was given by a Japanese, Mr. Amenomori, who, it seems, was neither a Buddhist nor a Christian, but an agnostic. The Japan Mail says that the best parallel to this singular arrangement would be the burial of Japanese sailors, wrecked on our coast, by Americans, who should go to a Catholic church and there celebrate high mass, with a funeral oration delivered by Robert G. Ingersoll. "From the address of Mr. Amenomori, in which he frankly acknowledged that he was not a Buddhist, but declared that he would seek to speak from a Buddhist's point of view, we learn that the service which was held was called a segaki, or 'a feast for hungry spirits.' The origin of the ceremony, he said, is derived from an incident in the life of Ananda, a contemporary and disciple of Gautama. This man, being alone at one time, was told by a hungry spirit in a horrible form that he should die within three days and be numbered among the hungry spirits. Ananda asked how he could escape such a horrible condition, and the spirit replied, 'If thou givest freely one531measure of food and drink to each one of the hungry spirits, which are as numerous as the myriads of sands of the Ganges, and to each one of the milliards of Brahmans, and if thou doest homage to Buddha, the priests, and the law, on my behalf, thou wilt escape from the impending pain and I also shall be born in heaven.' "The impossibility of accomplishing this task overwhelmed Ananda, and he went to his master, Gautama, to see what could be done. He was told that there was a way to feed this multitude. 'I shall teach thee a sutran. If thou offerest some drink and food and repeatest this sutran there shall be given to each spirit and Brahman seven measures sevenfold of the drink and food.' By this simple method he succeeded in pacifying the hungry spirits and thus obtained his own release. Such is the story. And with such a fable as this the modern Japanese Buddhists sought to provide for the dead American sailors who were drowned near their shores. The kindly spirit which led to the act is certainly to be recognized. That they could believe that in this way the souls of the departed were to be relieved is certainly astonishing." To us it does not seem nearly so strange that the pagan Japanese should believe that souls could be released in that way as it does that people with the Bible in their hands should believe that the souls of the dead are conscious; or that those in the lands of Bibles should believe that the souls of the dead can be relieved of pain or advanced in position and happiness by the muttering of a score of masses, more or less. The Roman Catholic purgatory belongs to the same family as the Buddhist purgatory; and the segaki is a parallel to the mass.