Buffet, E. P.

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122 THE OPEN COURT.the boy's career, that Governor Golden was the author of an excellent His-tory of the Five Nations. In the spring of 1831, the family moved to Skan-eateles, N. Y., in the heart of the old Iroquois area, where the boy grew toyoung manhood and received his earlier education. His father's business wasprinting and book-selling, a fact to which Dr. Beauchamp himself attributesimportance for its influence upon him. Iroquois Indians frequently visitedhis father's store, and acquaintances among the Onondagas thus made havecontinued through his life. On November 26, 1857, Mr. Beauchamp married.Sarah Carter of Ravenna, Ohio, who still lives. Taking a theological coursein the Delancey Divinity School, he was ordained deacon by Bishop W. H.Delancey on September 21, 1862, and priest November 20, 1863. On July i,1865, he took charge of the Grace Episcopal Church at Baldwinsville, N. Y.,where he remained until October i, 1900. While there he became interestedin Indian relics, of which he has examined and drawn many thousands. Hispapers regarding them, published as Bulletins by the New York State Museumare, practically, the only literature regarding the aboriginal relics of the Stateand will be standard. Dr. Beauchamp is a member of the American Asso-ciation for the Advancement of Science, joining in 18S5, and has several timesserved it in an official capacity. On November 30, 1886, Hobarth Collegegave him the degree of S. T. D., and since 1884 he has been examining chap-lain of the Diocese of Central New York. In 1889, he was elected a Directorof the Onondaga Historical Association. Pie was one of the founders of theOnondaga Academy of Sciences and in 1901 served as President,"He has remained in close and intimate relations with his old friendsthe Onondaga Indians, and has for years made serious studies of their lan-guage, traditions, ceremonial and history. He has collected some fifteenhundred Onondaga words, for most of which he has ascertained the primitivemeanings. He has gathered two thousand Iroquois personal names, withdates and incidents connected with them, and their significance. Throughthis work, he has been adopted into the Eel Clan of the Onondagas, beinggiven the name Wah-kat-yii-ken, 'beautiful rainbow.' His work for the NewYork State Museum began in 1897 and has continued to the present time. Inaddition to the matter already published through it, he has two importantbulletins now nearly ready for the printer. Among unpublished matter ofserious value, which should promptly find some medium of publication arehis translations of the Moravian Mission Journals dealing with New Yorkand amply annotated and much valuable Iroquois folklore. Though now morethan seventy-five years of age. Dr. Beauchamp is well and vigorous, alertand interested in his chosen field of study, in which he is still actively gather-ing new material.""A BUDDHIST IN JEWRY."To the Editor of The Open Court:In the article under the above caption which I contributed to your Oc-tober number, and in which I cited many of the curious parallels between theBook of Ecclesiastes and Buddhist writings, allusion was made to the tend-ency evinced in both to advocate contemplation of bodily decay as a themesalutary to the soul. Permit me now to round out the discussion with a fewremarks on the peroration of the Preacher's homily.MISCELLANEOUS. . I23In that familiar twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes which the old translatorsrendered with a beauty of cadence perhaps unequaled in any other passageof English prose, the transparent figures of language reveal a description ofthe failing physical powers. We perceive the darkening of vision, the lossof teeth, the subduing of voice, the whitening of hair, the weakening of limb.Nothing could be more characteristic of the Buddhst mental attitude thansuch a study. Constantly in the books of that religion are met allusions tohuman corruption intended to excite repugnance for those seductive frauds,our bodies, and a favorite method of pointing this moral is to picture thedecay that must ensue in a few short years.As a typical example, and in some respects a close analogue to the pas-sage from Ecclesiastes, may be cited the Song of Ambapali, which is foundin the Theri-gatha. Ambapali, in her earlier career, is known to studentsof Buddhism of even moderate reading, she being the Mary Magdalene ofthat cult, whose conversion is recorded in the Book of the Great Decease.She belonged to the class of Indian hetaerae. Gotania, with his disciples, whenon one of his last journeys, encamped in a grove of her possession, whereuponshe made them a feast and sat on a low stool at the side of the EnlightenedOne, while he instructed, roused and gladdened her with religious discourse."Lord," she said, "I present this mansion to the order of mendicants of whichthe Buddha is the chief." Bhagavat accepted the gift and proceeded on hiswa}^Here ends the story of Ambapali, so far as given in the Maha-Pari-nibbana-Sutta, but later on, among the Songs of Sisterhood, we find one ofthe longer Gathas attributed to her, now an aged nun. The Thera-Theri-gathahas not 3'et, I believe, appeared in English, but a felicitous German blank-verse translation was published in 1899 by Karl Eugen Neumann.These hymns are evidence of the intense fervor of feeling existent amongthe early Buddhists. Indeed, while some of them are figurative and artistic,many, like certain evangelical verse, are open to the criticism of being sodirect and didactic as to spoil the poetry.The Song of Ambapali is among the best as a work of literature. It com-prises a contrast of the elements of her former beauty with their oppositesin her present decrepitude. Her luxuriant locks of black hair, perfumed andadorned, are now bleached like hemp, the skull gleaming through them. Theerstwhile sparkling eyes are dim, blinking, scalding. The teeth that thenshone like a cluster of bananas are decayed. The songs that once vied withthose of the nightingale are hushed. Wrinkles and emaciation prevail.Mortar and dust are falling from the ancient house. But after each new-antithesis the stanza ends in a reiteration that 'tis otherwise with the loreof truth—with wisdom, let us render it. Saccavadivacanam anannatJid in thePali refrain, which Neumann freely translates:"]Vahrheitkuudcrs Kundc daitcrt iiuz'crdcrbt."We need not here follow this discussion into a close comparison of themorals drawn from these studies of senility. It might be that we couldfind some very striking analogies therein, although the meaning of the par-able of the Preacher is disputed and the dififerent Buddhist descriptions ofold age are not always used in quite the same way. But the general agree-ment of such passages, wherever met with, in trend and tone of thought, issufficiently clear. Edward P. Buffet. -

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A Buddhist in Jewry.

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A Buddhist in Jewry.

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