elish gave,
To sorrows manifold it brought relief,
Forgetting self she lived for others' weal
Till higher than Meru her merit rose.[2]

[Footnote 2: Mt. Meru, the Indian Olympus.]

At length a Voice celestial smote her ear.
"Nirvana's portal to thee open stands,
The crown of Buddhaship is thine by right.
No wave of care that shore can ever reach,
No cry of pain again thine ear assail;
But fixed in solitary bliss thou'lt see
The circling ages rolling at thy feet!"

"Shall I then have no tidings of mankind?
Such heaven a throne of glittering ice would be.
That changeless bliss to others thou may'st give.
Happiest am I th' unhappy to upraise.
Oh for a thousand hands[3] the task to ply!
To succour and relieve be mine," she said,
"Bought though it be by share of suffering.
Turn then the wheel,[4] and back to earth again."

[Footnote 3: She is often so represented, as the symbol of present
Providence.]

[Footnote 4: _Lunhui_, the wheel of destiny, within which birth
and death succeed without end or interval.]

From out the blue came down the Voice once more:
"Thy great refusal wins a higher prize;
A kingdom new thy charity hath gained.[5]
And there shalt thou, the Queen of Mercy, reign,
Aloof from pain or weakness of thine own,
With quickened sense to hear and power to save."

[Footnote 5: She escapes the wheel, but remains on the border of
Nirvana, where, as her name signifies, she "hears the prayers of
men."]

Fair image thou! Almost I worship thee,
Frail shadow of a Christ that hears and feels!

W. A. P. M.

PEARL GROTTO, NEAR PEKING, August 8, 1906.]

Buddhist monasteries are to be seen on every hand. They are often
subsidised by the state; and even at the tomb of Confucius a temple was
erected called the "Hall of the Three Religions." In it the image of
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Buddha is said to have occupied the seat of honour, but prior to
the date of my visit it had been demolished.

Each of these religions has a hierarchy: that of Confucius with
a lineal descendant of the Sage at its head; that of Lao-tse with
Chang Tien-shi, the arch-magician, as its high priest; and, higher
than all, that of Buddha with the Grand Lama of Tibet.

Under the house of Han a beginning was made in the institution
of civil service examinations--a system which has continued to
dominate the Chinese intellect down to our time; but it was not
fully developed until the dynasty