[33] They preach Buddhism in its reality.
Whereas, the general associations of the Christian spire and belfry,
apart from the note of time, are those of joy, invitation and good news,
those of the tongueless and log-struck bells of Buddhism are sombre and
saddening. "As merry as a marriage bell," could never be said of the
boom from a Buddhist temple, even though it pour waves of sound through
sunny leagues. There is a vast difference between the peal and play of
the chimes of Europe and the liquid melody which floods the landscape of
Chinese Asia. The one music, high in air, seems ever to tell of faith,
triumph and aspiration; the other in minor notes, from bells hung low on
yokes, perpetually echoes the pessimism of despair, the folly of living
and the joy that anticipates its end.
Above all, the temple holds and governs the cemetery[34] as well as the
cradle; while from it emanate influences that enwrap and surround the
villager, from birth to death. Since the outlawry of Christianity, and
especially since the division of the empire into Buddhist parishes, the
bonzes have had the oversight of birth, death, marriage and divorce.
Particularly tenacious, in common with priestcraft all over the world,
is their clutch upon what they call "consecrated ground.
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