Mr. Dovey's Lecture to the B.W A. Literary Section A lecture of unusual interest on "The Story of the Founder of Buddhism'? was given by Mr. J Whitsed Dovey in the rooms of the Royal Asiatic Society, on Tuesday afternoon. The lecture was given under the auspices of the B. W. A. Literary Section and alli proceeds were devoted to the work of the B. W. A. Hospital Aid Department. Mrs. O. M. Green, Acting Chairman of the Association, presided and introduced the speaker of the afternoon with a few appropriate words.
Mr. Dovey's story was based upon a translation of an old Chinese classic compiled im the Tang Dynasty 1,200 years ago, entitled The Revealed Things of the EversPresent Buddha." The book gives the myths or legends clustering around the origin and history of the Buddha. Iit was edited and put into its present form during the reign of Ch'ien Lung, 150 years ago. The quaint slides which illustrated the lecture were reproduced from the woodcuts in the Chinese volume, and being very well copied amd coloured made a most attractive addition to the lecture.
Mr. Dovey selected the dramatic incidents in the life of the great teacher and the narrative assembled the most famous of the Buddha legends in a picturesque sequence. Beginning with Buddha's ancestry and proceeding to his miraculous birth, his coronation as heir and visit to the country where the difficulties of the farmers moved him greatly, the tale proceeded to his determination to leave home, his ascetic years, meditation under the Bo-tree, warfare with the devils, his preaching and: his disciples,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.