{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_8390/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_8390","id":"gutenberg_8390","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8390","summary":null,"tags":["Buddhism","Category: History - Other","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"BUDDHISM AND BUDDHISTS IN CHINA\n\nby LEWIS HODOUS, D.D.\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n PREFACE\n CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY\n CHAPTER II. THE ENTRANCE OF BUDDHISM INTO CHINA\n CHAPTER III. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM AS THE PREDOMINATING RELIGION OF CHINA\n     1. The World of Invisible Spirits\n     2. The Universal Sense of Ancestor Control\n     3. Degenerate Taoism\n     4. The Organizing Value of Confucianism\n     5. Buddhism an Inclusive Religion\n CHAPTER IV. BUDDHISM AND THE PEASANT\n     1. The Monastery of Kushan\n     2.  Monasteries Control F\u00eang-shui\n     3. Prayer for Rain\n         (a) The altar\n         (b) The prayer service\n         (c) Its Meaning\n     4. Monasteries are Supported because They Control F\u00eang-shui\n CHAPTER V. BUDDHISM AND THE FAMILY\n     1. Kuan Yin, the Giver of Children and Protector of Women\n     2. Kuan Yin, the Model of Local Mother-Goddesses\n     3. Exhortations on Family Virtues\n     4. Services for the Dead\n CHAPTER VI. BUDDHISM AND SOCIAL LIFE\n     1. How the Laity is Trained in Buddhist Ideas\n     2. Effect of Ideals of Mercy and Universal Love\n     3. Relation to Confucian Ideal\n     4. The Embodiment of Buddhist Ideals in the Vegetarian Sects\n     5. Pilgrimages\n CHAPTER VII. BUDDHISM AND THE FUTURE LIFE\n     1. The Buddhist Purgatory\n     2. Its Social Value\n     3. The Buddhist Heaven\n     4. The Harmonization of These Ideas with Ancestor Worship\n CHAPTER VIII. THE SPIRITUAL VALUES EMPHASIZED BY BUDDHISM IN CHINA\n     1. The Threefold Classification of Men under Buddhism\n     2. Salvation for the Common Man\n     3. The Place of Faith\n     4. Salvation of the Second Class\n     5. Salvation for the Highest Class\n     6. Heaven and Purgatory\n     7. Sin\n     8. Nirvana\n     9. The Philosophical Background\n     10. What Buddhism Has to Give\n CHAPTER IX. PRESENT-DAY BUDDHISM\n     1. Periods of Buddhist History\n     2. The Progress of the Last Twenty-five Years\n     3. Present Activities\n         (a) The reconstruction of monasteries\n         (b) Accessions\n         (c) Publications\n         (d) Lectures\n         (e) Buddhist societies\n         (f) Signs of social ambition\n     4. The Attitude of Tibetan Lamas\n     5. The Buddhist World Versus the Christian World\n CHAPTER X. THE CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO BUDDHISTS\n     1. Questions which Buddhists Ask\n     2. Knowledge and Sympathy\n     3. Emphasis on the \u00c6sthetic in Christianity\n     4. Emphasis on the Mystical in Christianity\n     5. Emphasis on the Social Elements in Christianity\n     6. Emphasis on the Person of Jesus Christ\n         (a) As a Historical Character\n         (b) As the Revealer\n         (c) As the Saviour\n         (d) As the Eternal Son of God\n     7. How Christianity Expresses Itself in Buddhist Minds\n     8. Christianity\u2019s Constructive Values\n APPENDIX ONE, Hints for the Preliminary Study of Buddhism in China\n APPENDIX TWO, A Brief Bibliography\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThis volume is the third to be published of a series on \u201cThe World\u2019s Living\nReligions,\u201d projected in 1920 by the Board of Missionary Preparation of the\nForeign Missions Conference of North America. The series seeks to introduce\nWestern readers to the real religious life of each great national area of the\nnon-Christian world.\n\nBuddhism is a religion which must be viewed from many angles. Its original\nform, as preached by Gautama in India and developed in the early years\nsucceeding, and as embodied in the sacred literature of early Buddhism, is not\nrepresentative of the actual Buddhism of any land today. The faithful student\nof Buddhist literature would be as far removed from understanding the working\nactivities of a busy center of Buddhism in Burmah, Tibet or China today as a\nstudent of patristic literature would be from appreciating the Christian life\nof London or New York City.\n\nMoreover Buddhism, like Christianity, has been affected by national conditions.\nIt has developed at least three markedly different types, requiring, therefore,\nas many distinct volumes of this series for its fair interpretation and\npresentation. The volume on the Buddhism of Southern Asia by Professor Kenneth\nJ. Saunders was published in May, 1923; this volume on the Buddhism of China by\nProfessor Hodous will be the second to appear; a third on the Buddhism of\nJapan, to be written by Dr. R. C. Armstrong, will be published in 1924. Each of\nthese is needed in order that the would be student of Buddhism as practiced in\nthose countries should be given a true, impressive and friendly picture of what\nhe will meet.\n\nA missionary no less than a professional student of Buddhism needs to approach\nthat religion with a real appreciation of what it aims to do for its people and\ndoes do. No one can come into contact with the best that Buddhism offers\nwithout being impressed by its serenity, assurance and power.\n\nProfessor Hodous has written this volume on Buddhism in China out of the ripe\nexperience and continuing studies of sixteen years of missionary service in\nFoochow, the chief city of Fukien Province, China, one of the important centers\nof Buddhism. His local studies were supplemented by the results of broader\nresearch and study in northern China. No other available writer on the subject\nhas gone so far as he in reproducing the actual thinking of a trained Buddhist\nmind in regard to the fundamentals of religion. At the same time he has taken\npains to exhibit and to interpret the religious life of the peasant as affected\nby Buddhism. He has sought to be absolutely fair to Buddhism, but still to\nexpress his own conviction that the best that is in Buddhism is given far more\nadequate expression in Christianity.\n\nThe purpose of each volume in this series is impressionistic rather than\ndefinitely educational. They are not textbooks for the formal study of\nBuddhism, but introductions to its study. They aim to kindle interest and to\ndirect the activity of the awakened student along sound lines. For further\nstudy each volume amply provides through directions and literature in the\nappendices. It seeks to help the student to discriminate, to think in terms of\na devotee of Buddhism when he compares that religion with Christianity. It\nassumes, however, that Christianity is the broader and deeper revelation of God\nand the world of today.\n\nBuddhism in China undoubtedly includes among its adherents many high-minded,\ndevout, and earnest souls who live an idealistic life. Christianity ought to\nmake a strong appeal to such minds, taking from them none of the joy or\nassurance or devotion which they possess, but promoting a deeper, better\nbalanced interpretation of the active world, a nobler conception of God, a\nstronger sense of sinfulness and need, and a truer idea of the full meaning of\nincarnation and revelation.\n\nIt is our hope that this fresh contribution to the understanding of Buddhism as\nit is today may be found helpful to readers everywhere.\n\nThe Editors.\n\n_New York city, December, 1923._\n\nThe Committee of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions Conference of\nNorth America has authorized the publication of this series. The author of each\nvolume is alone responsible for the opinions expressed, unless otherwise\nstated.\n\n\n\n\nBUDDHISM AND BUDDHISTS IN CHINA\n\n\n\n\nI\nINTRODUCTORY\n\n\nA well known missionary of Peking, China, was invited one day by a Buddhist\nacquaintance to attend the ceremony of initiation for a class of one hundred\nand eighty priests and some twenty laity who had been undergoing preparatory\ninstruction at the stately and important Buddhist monastery. The beautiful\ncourts of the temple were filled by a throng of invited guests and spectators,\nwaiting to watch the impressive procession of candidates, acolytes, attendants\nand high officials, all in their appropriate vestments. No outsider was\nprivileged to witness the solemn taking by each candidate for the priesthood of\nthe vow to \u201ckeep the Ten Laws,\u201d followed by the indelible branding of his\nscalp, truly a \u201cbaptism of fire.\u201d Less private was the initiation of the lay\nbrethren and _sisters,_ more lightly branded on the right wrist, while all\nabout intoned \u201cNa Mah Pen Shih Shih Chia Mou Ni Fo.\u201d (I put my trust in my\noriginal Teacher, S\u00e4kyamuni, Buddha.)\n\nThe missionary was deeply impressed by the serenity and devotion of the\nworshipers and by the dignity and solemnity of the service. The last candidate\nto rise and receive the baptism of branding was a young married woman of\nrefined appearance, attended by an elderly lady, evidently her mother, who\nwatched with an expression of mingled devotion, insight and pride her\ndaughter\u2019s initiation and welcomed her at the end of the process with radiant\nface, as a daughter, now, in a spiritual as well as a physical sense. At that\nmoment an attendant, noting the keen interest of the missionary, said to him\nrather flippantly, \u201cWould you not like to have your arm branded, too?\u201d \u201cI\nmight,\u201d he replied, \u201cjust out of curiosity, but I could not receive the\nbranding as a believer in the Buddha. I am a Christian believer. To be branded\nwithout inward faith would be an insult to your religion as well as treachery\nto my own, would it not? Is not real religion a matter of the heart?\u201d\n\nThe old lady, who had overheard with evident disapproval the remark of the\nattendant, turned to the missionary at once and said, \u201cIs that the way you\nWesterners, you Christians, speak of your faith? Is the reality of religion for\nyou also an inward experience of the heart?\u201d And with that began an interesting\ninterchange of conversation, each party discovering that in the heart of the\nother was a genuine longing for God that overwhelmed all the artificial,\nmaterial distinctions and the human devices through which men have limited to\nparticular and exclusive paths their way of search, and drew these two pilgrims\non the way toward God into a common and very real fellowship of the spirit.\n\nA Buddhist monk was passing by a mission building in another city\u2019 of China\nwhen his attention was suddenly drawn to the Svastika and other Buddhist\nsymbols which the architect had skilfully used in decorating the building. His\nface brightened as he said to his companion: \u201cI did not know that Christians\nhad any appreciation of beauty in their religion.\u201d\n\nThese incidents reveal aspects of the alchemy of the soul by which the real\ndevotee of one religion perceives values which are dear to him in another\nreligion. The good which he has attained in his old religion enables him to\nappropriate the better in the new religion. A converted monk, explaining his\nacceptance of Christianity, said: \u201cI found in Jesus Christ the great\nBodhisattva, my Saviour, who brings to fruition the aspirations awakened in me\nby Buddhism.\u201d\n\nJust as it has been said that they do not know England who know England only,\nso it may be said with equal truth that they do not know Christianity who know\nit and no other faith. There are many in China like the old lady at the temple,\nwho have found in Buddhism something of that spiritual satisfaction and\nstimulus which true Christianity affords, in fuller measure. The recognition of\nsuch religious values by the student or the missionary furnishes a sound\nfoundation for the building of a truer spirituality among such devotees.\n\nAs will be seen in what follows, religion in China is at first sight a mixed\naffair. From the standpoint of cruder household superstitions an average\nChinese family may be regarded as Taoists; the principles by which its members\nseek to guide their lives individually and socially may be called Confucian;\ntheir attitude of worship and their hopes for the future make them Buddhists.\nThe student would not be far afield when he credits the religious aspirations\nof the Chinese today to Buddhism, regarding Confucianism as furnishing the\nethical system to which they submit and Taoism as responsible for many\nsuperstitious practices. But the Buddhism found in China differs radically from\nthat of Southern Asia, as will be made clear by the following sketch of its\nintroduction into the Flowery Kingdom and its subsequent history.\n\n\n\n\nII\nTHE ENTRANCE OF BUDDHISM INTO CHINA\n\n\nBuddhism was not an indigenous religion of China. Its founder was Gautama of\nIndia in the sixth century B.C. Some centuries later it found its way into\nChina by way of central Asia. There is a tradition that as early as 142 B.C.\nChang Ch\u2019ien, an ambassador of the Chinese emperor, Wu Ti, visited the\ncountries of central Asia, where he first learned about the new religion which\nwas making such headway and reported concerning it to his master. A few years\nlater the generals of Wu Ti captured a gold image of the Buddha which the\nemperor set up in his palace and worshiped, but he took no further steps.\n\nAccording to Chinese historians Buddhism was officially recognized in China\nabout 67 A.D. A few years before that date, the emperor, Ming-Ti, saw in a\ndream a large golden image with a halo hovering above his palace. His advisers,\nsome of whom were no doubt already favorable to the new religion, interpreted\nthe image of the dream to be that of Buddha, the great sage of India, who was\ninviting his adhesion. Following their advice the emperor sent an embassy to\nstudy into Buddhism. It brought back two Indian monks and a quantity of\nBuddhist classics. These were carried on a white horse and so the monastery\nwhich the emperor built for the monks and those who came after them was called\nthe White Horse Monastery. Its tablet is said to have survived to this day.\n\nThis dream story is worth repeating because it goes to show that Buddhism was\nnot only known at an early date, but was favored at the court of China. In\nfact, the same history which relates the dream contains the biography of an\nofficial who became an adherent of Buddhism a few years before the dream took\nplace. This is not at all surprising, because an acquaintance with Buddhism was\nthe inevitable concomitant of the military campaigning, the many embassies and\nthe wide-ranging trade of those centuries. But the introduction of Buddhism\ninto China was especially promoted by reason of the current policy of the\nChinese government of moving conquered populations in countries west of China\ninto China proper, The vanquished peoples brought their own religion along with\nthem. At one time what is now the province of Shansi was populated in this way\nby the Hsiung-nu, many of whom were Buddhists.\n\nThe introduction and spread of Buddhism were hastened by the decline of\nConfucianism and Taoism. The Han dynasty (206 B. C.-221 A. D.) established a\ngovernment founded on Confucianism. It reproduced the classics destroyed in the\nprevious dynasty and encouraged their study; it established the state worship\nof Confucius; it based its laws and regulations upon the ideals and principles\nadvocated by Confucius. The great increase of wealth and power under this\ndynasty led to a gradual deterioration in the character of the rulers and\nofficials. The rigid Confucian regulations became burdensome to the people who\nceased to respect their leaders. Confucianism lost its hold as the complete\nsolution of the problems of life. At the same time Taoism had become a\nveritable jumble of meaningless and superstitious rites which served to support\na horde of ignorant, selfish priests. The high religious ideals of the earlier\nTaoist mystics were abandoned for a search after the elixir of life during\nfruitless journeys to the isles of the Immortals which were supposed to be in\nthe Eastern Sea.\n\nAt this juncture there arose in North China a sect of men called the Purists\nwho advocated a return from the vagaries of Taoism and the irritating rules of\nConfucianism to the simple life practised by the Taoist mystics. When these\nthoughtful and earnest minded men came into contact with Buddhism they were\ncaptivated by it. It had all they were claiming for Taoist mysticism and more.\nThey devoted their literary ability and religious fervor to the spreading of\nthe new religion and its success was in no small measure due to their efforts.\nAs a result of this early association the tenets of the two religions seemed so\nmuch alike that various emperors called assemblies of Buddhists and Taoists\nwith the intention of effecting a union of the two religions into one. If the\nemperor was under the influence of Buddhism he tried to force all Taoists to\nbecome Buddhists. If he was favorable to Taoism he tried to make all Buddhists\nbecome Taoists.\n\nBut such mandates were as unsuccessful as other similar schemes have been. In\nthe third century A. D. after the Han dynasty had ended, China was broken up\ninto several small kingdoms which contended for supremacy, so that for about\nfour hundred years the whole country was in a state of disunion. One of the\nstrong dynasties of this period, the Northern Wei (386-535 A. D.), was\ndistinctly loyal to Buddhism. During its continuance Buddhism prospered\ngreatly. Although Chinese were not permitted to become monks until 335 A. D.,\nstill Buddhism made rapid advances and in the fourth century, when that\nrestriction was removed, about nine-tenths of the people of northwestern China\nhad become Buddhists. Since then Buddhism has been an established factor in\nChinese life.\n\n\n\n\nIII\nTHE ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM AS THE PREDOMINATING RELIGION OF CHINA\n\n\nEven the historical influences noted above do not account entirely for the\nspread of Buddhism in China. In order to understand this and the place which\nBuddhism occupies, we need to review briefly the different forms which religion\ntakes in China and to note how Buddhism has related itself to them.\n\n_1. The World of Invisible Spirits_\n\nThe Chinese believe _in_ a surrounding-world of spirits, whose origin is\nexceedingly various. They touch life at every point. There are spirits which\nare guardians of the soil, tree spirits, mountain demons, fire gods, the\nspirits of animals, of mountains, of rivers, seas and stars, of the heavenly\nbodies and of many forms of active life. These spirits to the Chinese mind, of\ntoday are a projection, a sort of spiritual counterpart, of the many sided\ninterests, practical or otherwise, of the groups and communities by whom they\nare worshipped. There are other spirits which mirror the ideals of the groups\nby which they are worshipped. Some of them may have been incarnated in the\nlives of great leaders. There are spirits which are mere animations, occasional\nspirits, associated with objects crossing the interests of men, but not\nconstant enough to attain a definite, independent life as spiritual beings.\nThus surrounding the average Chinese peasant there is a densely populated\nspirit world affecting in all kinds of ways his, daily existence. This other\nworld is the background which must be kept in mind by one who would understand\nor attempt to guide Chinese religious experience. It is the basis on which all\norganized forms of religious activity are built. The nearest of these to his\nheart is the proper regard for his ancestors.\n\n_2. The Universal Sense_ of _Ancestor Control_\n\nThe ancestral control of family life occupies so large and important a place in\nChinese thought and practice that ancestor worship has been called the original\nreligion of the Chinese. It is certain that the earliest Confucian records\nrecognize ancestor worship; but doubtless it antedated them, growing up out of\nthe general religious consciousness of the people. The discussion of that\norigin in detail cannot be taken up here. It may be followed in the literature\nnoted in the appendix or in the volume of this series entitled \u201cPresent-Day\nConfucianism.\u201d Ancestor worship is active today, however, because the Chinese\nas a people believe that these ancestors control in a very real way the good or\nevil fortunes of their descendants, because this recognition of ancestors\nfurnishes a potent means of promoting family unity and social ethics, and, most\nof all, because a happy future life is supposed to be dependent upon\ndescendants who will faithfully minister to the dead. Since each one desires\nsuch a future he is faithful in promoting the observance of the obligation.\nConsequently, ancestor worship, like the previously mentioned belief in the\ninvisible spiritual world, underlies all other religious developments. No\nfamily is so obscure or poor that it does not submit to the ritual or\ndiscipline which is supposed to ensure the favor of the spirits belonging to\nthe community. Likewise, every such family is loyal to the supposed needs of\nits deceased ancestors. In a very intimate way these beliefs are interwoven\nwith the private and social morality of every family or group in Chinese\nsociety, and must be taken into account by any one who seeks to bring a\nreligious message to the Chinese people.\n\n_3. Degenerate Taoism_\n\nTaoism is that system of Chinese religious thought and practice, beginning\nabout the fifth century B. C., which was originally based on the teachings of\nLao Tzu and developed in the writings of Lieh Tzu and Chuang Tzu and found in\nthe Tao T\u00ea Ching. It is really in this original form a philosophy of some\nmerit. According to its teaching the Tao is the great impersonal background of\nthe world from which all things proceed as beams from the sun, and to which all\nbeings return. In contrast to the present, transient, changing world the Tao is\nunchangeable and quiet. Originally the Taoists emphasized quiescence, a life in\naccordance with nature, as a means of assimilating themselves to the Tao,\nbelieving that in this way they would obtain length of days, eternal life and\nespecially the power to become superior to natural conditions.\n\nThere is a movement today among Chinese scholars in favor of a return to this\noriginal highest form of Taoism. It appeals to them as a philosophy of life; an\nanswer to its riddles. Among the masses of the people, however, Taoism\nmanifests itself in a ritual of extreme superstition. It recommends magic\ntricks and curious superstitions as a means of prolonging life. It expresses\nitself very largely in these degrading practices which few Chinese will defend,\nbut which are yet very commonly practiced.\n\n_4. The Organizing Value of Confucianism_\n\nConfucianism brought organization into these hazy conceptions of life and duty.\nIt took for granted this spiritual-unspiritual background of animism,\nancestor-worship and Taoism, but reshaped and adapted it as a whole so that it\nmight fit into that proper organization of the state and nation which was one\nof its great objectives. Just as Confucianism related the family to the\nvillage, the village to the district, and the district to the state, so it\norganized the spiritual world into a hierarchy with Shang Ti as its head. This\nhierarchy was developed along the lines of the organization mentioned above.\nUnder Shang Ti were the five cosmic emperors, one for each of the four quarters\nand one for heaven above, under whom were the gods of the soil, the mountains,\nrivers, seas, stars, the sun and moon, the ancestors and the gods of special\ngroups. Each of the deities in the various ranks had duties to those above and\nrights with reference to those below. These duties and rights, as they affected\nthe individual, were not only expressed in law but were embodied in ceremony\nand music, in daily religious life and practice in such a way that each\nindividual had reason to feel that he was a functioning agent in this grand\nConfucian universe. If any one failed to do his part, the whole universe would\nsuffer. So thoroughly has this idea been adopted by the Chinese people that\nevery one joins in forcing an individual, however reluctant or careless, to\nperform his part of each ceremony as it has been ordered from high antiquity.\n\nThe emperor alone worshipped the supreme deity, Shang Ti; the great officers of\nstate, according to the dignity of their office, were related to subordinate\ngods and required to show them adequate respect and reverence. Confucius and a\nlong line of noted men following him were semi-deified [Footnote: Confucius was\nby imperial decree deified in 1908.] and highly reverenced by the literati, the\nclass from which the officers of state were as a rule obtained, in connection\nwith their duties, and as an expression of their ideals. To the common people\nwere left the ordinary local deities, while all classes, of course, each in its\nown fashion reverenced, cherished and obeyed their ancestors. It should be\nremarked at this point that Confucianism of this official character has broken\ndown, not only under the impact of modern ideas, but under the longing of the\nChinese for a universal deity. The people turn to Heaven and to the Pearly\nEmperor, the popular counterpart of Shang Ti.\n\nViewed from another angle, Confucianism is an elaborate system of ethics. In\nwritings which are virtually the scriptures of the Chinese people Confucius and\nhis successors have set forth the principles which should govern the life of a\npeople who recognize this spiritual universe and system. These ethics have\ngrown out of a long and, in some respects, a sound experience. Much can be said\nin their favor. The essential weaknesses of the Confucian system of ethics lie\nin its sectional and personal loyalties and its monarchical basis. The spirit\nof democracy is a deadly foe to Confucianism. Another element of weakness is\nits excessive dependence upon the past. Confucius reached ultimate wisdom by\nthe study of the best that had been attained before his day. He looked backward\nrather than forward. Consequently a modern, broadly educated Confucianist finds\nhimself in an anomalous position. He does not need absolutely to reject the\nwisdom which Confucianism embodies, but he can no longer accept it as a sound,\nreliable and indisputable scheme of thought and action. Yet its simple ethical\nprinciples and its social relationships are basal in the lives of the vast\nmasses of the Chinese.\n\n_5. Buddhism an Inclusive Religion._\n\nUpon this, confused jumble of spiritism, superstition, loyalty to ancestors and\nsubmission to a divine hierarchy Buddhism was superimposed. It quickly\ndominated all because of its superior excellence. The form of Buddhism which\nbecame established in China was not, to be sure, like the Buddhism preached by\nGautama and his disciples, or like that form of Buddhism which had taken root\nin Burma or Ceylon. Except in name, the Buddhism of Southern Asia and the\nBuddhism which developed in China were virtually two distinct types of\nreligion. The Buddhism of Burma and Ceylon was of the conservative H\u00eenay\u00e2na\n(\u201cLittle Vehicle\u201d of salvation) school, while that of China was of the\nprogressive Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na (\u201cGreat Vehicle\u201d of salvation) school. Their differences\nare so marked as to be worthy of a careful statement.\n\nThe Hinayana, which is today the type of Buddhism in Ceylon, Burma and Siam,\nhas always clung closely to tradition as expressed in the original Buddhist\nscriptures. Its basic ideas were that life is on the whole a time of suffering,\nthat the cause of this sorrow is desire or ignorance, and that there is a\npossible deliverance from it. This deliverance or salvation is to be attained\nby following the eightfold path, namely, right knowledge, aspiration, speech,\nconduct, means of livelihood, endeavor, mindfulness and meditation. To the\nbeatific state to be ultimately attained Gautama gave the name Nirvana,\nexplained by his followers variously either as an utter extinction of\npersonality or as a passionless peace, a general state of well-being free from\nall evil desire or clinging to life and released from the chain of\ntransmigration. Hinayana Buddhism appeals to the individual as affording a way\nof escape from evil desire and its consequences by acquiring knowledge, by\nconstant discipline, and by a devotedness of the life to religious ends through\nmembership in the monastic order which Buddha established. It encourages,\nhowever, a personal salvation worked out by the individual alone.\n\nThe Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na school of Buddhists accept the general ideas of the Hinayana\nregarding life and salvation, but so change the spirit and objectives as to\nmake Buddhism into what is virtually another religion. It does not confine\nsalvation to the few who can retire from the world and give themselves wholly\nto good works, but opens Buddhahood to all. The \u201csaint\u201d of Hinayana Buddhism is\nthe _arhat_ who is intent on saving himself. The saint of Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na\nBuddhism is the candidate for Buddhahood (Bodhisattva) who defers his entrance\ninto the bliss of deliverance in order to save others. Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na Buddhism is\nprogressive. It encourages missionary enterprise and was a secret of the\nremarkable spread of Buddhism over Asia. Moreover, while the H\u00eenay\u00e2na school\nrecognizes no god or being to whom worship is given, the Mah\u00e2yan\u00e2 came to\nregard Gautama himself as a god and salvation as life in a heavenly world of\npure souls. Thus the Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na type of thinking constitutes a bridge between\nH\u00eenay\u00e2na Buddhism and Christianity. In fact, a recent writer has declared that\nH\u00eenay\u00e2na Buddhists are verging toward these more spiritual conceptions.\n[Footnote: See Saunders, _Buddhism and Buddhists in Southern Asia,_ pp.\n10, 20.]\n\nAfter the death of S\u00e2kyamuni [Footnote: S\u00e2kyamuni is the name by which Gautama,\nthe Buddha, is familiarly known in China.] Buddhism broke up into a number of\nsects usually said to be eighteen in number. When Buddhism came to China some\nof these sects were introduced, but they assumed new forms in their Chinese\nenvironment. Besides the sects brought, from India the Chinese developed\nseveral strong sects of their own. Usually they speak of ten sects although the\nnumber is far larger, if the various subdivisions are included.\n\nTo indicate the manifold differences between these groups in Buddhism would\ntake us far afield and would not be profitable. It will be of interest,\nhowever, to consider some of the chief sects. One of the sects introduced from\nIndia is the Pure Land or the Ching T\u2019u which holds before the believer the\n\u201cWestern Paradise\u201d gained through faith in Amit\u00e2bha. Any one, no matter what\nhis life may have been, may enter the Western Paradise by repeating the name of\nAmit\u00e2bha. This sect is widespread in China. In Japan there are two branches of\nit known as the Nishi-Hongwanji and the Higashi-Hongwanji with their head\nmonasteries in Kyoto. They are the most progressive sects in Japan and are\ncarrying on missionary work in China, the Hawaiian Islands and in the United\nStates.\n\nAnother strong sect is the Meditative sect or the Ch\u2019an Men (Zen in Japan).\nThis was introduced by Bodhidharma, or Tamo, who arrived in the capital of\nChina in the year 520 A.D. On his arrival the emperor Wu Ti tried to impress\nthe sage with his greatness saying: \u201cWe have built temples, multiplied the\nScriptures, encouraged many to join the Order: is not there much merit in all\nthis?\u201d \u201cNone,\u201d was the blunt reply. \u201cBut what say the holy books? Do they not\npromise rewards for such deeds?\u201d \u201cThere is nothing holy.\u201d \u201cBut you, yourself,\nare you not one of the holy ones?\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d \u201cWho are you?\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t\nknow.\u201d Thus introduced, the great man proceeded to open his missionary-labors\nby sitting down opposite a wall arid gazing at it for the next nine years. From\nthis he has been called the \u201cwall-gazer.\u201d He and his successors promulgated the\ndoctrine that neither the scriptures, the ritual nor the organization, in fact\nnothing outward had any value in the attainment of enlightenment. They held\nthat the heart of the universe is Buddha and that apart from the heart or the\nthought all is unreal. They thought themselves back into the universal Buddha\nand then found the Buddha heart in all nature. Thus they awakened the spirit\nwhich permeated nature, art and literature and made the whole world kin with\nthe spirit of the Buddha.\n\n\u201cThe golden light upon the sunkist peaks,\nThe water murmuring in the pebbly creeks,\nAre Buddha. In the stillness, hark, he speaks!\u201d\n\n\n[Footnote: K. J. Saunders in _Epochs of Buddhist History._]\n\nSuch pantheism and quietism often lead to a confusion in moral relations, but\nthese mystics were quite correct in their morals because they checked up their\nmysticism with the moral system of the Buddha.\n\nStill another important sect originated in the sixth century A. D. on Chinese\nsoil, namely, the T\u2019ien T\u2019ai (Japanese Tendai), so called because it started in\na monastery situated on the beautiful T\u2019ien T\u2019ai mountains south of Ningpo.\nChih K\u2019ai, the founder, realized that Buddhism contained a great mass of\ncontradictory teachings and practice, all attributed to the Buddha. He sought\nfor a harmonizing principle and found it in the arbitrary theory that these\nteachings were given to different people on five different occasions and hence\nthe discrepancies. The practical message of this sect has been that all beings\nhave the Buddha heart and that the Buddha loves all beings, so that all beings\nmay attain salvation, which consists in the full realization of the Buddha\nheart latent in them.\n\nThere was a time when these sects were very active and flourishing in China. At\nthe present time the various tendencies for which they stood have been adopted\nby Buddhism as a whole and the various sectaries, though still keeping the name\nof the sect, live peacefully in the same monastery. All the monasteries\npractice meditation, believe in the paradise of Amit\u00e2bha, and are enjoying the\nironic calm advocated by the T\u2019ien T\u2019ai. While the struggle among the sects of\nChina has been followed by a calm which resembles stagnation, those in Japan\nare very active and the reader is referred to the volume of this series on\nJapanese Buddhism for further treatment of the subject.\n\nWhen Buddhism entered China it brought with it a new world. It was new\n_practical_ and new spiritually. It brought a knowledge unknown before\nregarding the heavenly bodies, regarding nature and regarding medicine, and a\npractice vastly above the realm of magical arts. In addition to these practical\nbenefits, Buddhism proclaimed a new spiritual universe far more real and\nextensive than any of which the Chinese had dreamed, and peopled with spiritual\nbeings having characteristics entirely novel. In comparison with this new\nuniverse or series of universes which Indian imagination had created, the\nChinese universe was wooden and geometric. Since it was an organized system and\na greater rather than a different one, the Chinese people readily accepted it\nand made it their own.\n\nBuddhism not only enlarged the universe and gave the individual a range of\nopportunity hitherto unsuspected, but it introduced a scheme of religious\npractice, or rather several of them, enabling the individual devotee to attain\na place in this spiritual universe through his own efforts. These \u201cways\u201d of\nsalvation were quite in harmony with Chinese ideas. They resembled what had\nalready been a part of the national practice and so were readily adopted and\nadapted by the Chinese.\n\nBuddhism rendered a great service to the Chinese through its new estimate of\nthe individual. Ancient China scarcely recognized the individual. He was merged\nin the family and the clan. Taoists, to be sure, talked of \u201cimmortals\u201d and\nConfucianism exhibited its typical personality, or \u201cprincely man,\u201d but these\nwere thought of as supermen, as ideals. The classics of China had very little\nto say about the common people. The great common crowd was submerged. Buddhism,\non the other hand, gave every individual a distinct place in the great wheel\n_dharma,_ the law, and made it possible for him to reach the very highest\ngoal of salvation. This introduced a genuinely new element into the social and\nfamily life of the Chinese people.\n\nBuddhism was so markedly superior to any one of the four other methods of\nexpressing the religious life, that it quickly won practical recognition as the\nreal religion of China. Confucianism may be called the doctrine of the learned\nclasses. It formulates their principles of life, but it is in no strict sense a\npopular religion. It is rather a state ritual, or a scheme of personal and\nsocial ethics. Taoism recognizes the immediate influence of the spirit world,\nbut it ministers only to local ideals and needs. In the usages of family and\ncommunity life, ancestor worship has a definite place, but an occasional one.\nBuddhism was able to leave untouched each of these expressions of Chinese\npersonal and social life, and yet it went far beyond them in ministering to\nreligious development. Its ideas of being, of moral responsibility and of\nreligious relationships furnished a new psychology which with all its\nimperfections far surpassed that of the Chinese. Buddhism\u2019s organization was so\nsatisfying and adaptable that not only was it taken over readily by the\nChinese, but it has also persisted in China without marked changes since its\nintroduction. Most of all it stressed personal salvation and promised an escape\nfrom the impersonal world of distress and hunger which surrounds the average\nChinese into a heaven ruled by Amit\u00e2bha [Footnote: Amit\u00e2bha, meaning \u201cinfinite\nlight,\u201d is the Sanskrit name of one of the Buddhas moat highly revered in\nChina. The usual Chinese equivalent is Omi-To-Fo.] the Merciful. The\nobligations of Buddhism are very definite and universally recognized. It\nenforces high standards of living, but has added significance because it draws\neach devotee into a sort of fellowship with the divine, and mates not this life\nalone, but this life plus a future life, the end of human activity. Buddhism,\ntherefore, really expresses the deepest religious life of the people of China.\n\nIt will be worth while to note some illustrations of the conviction of the\nChinese people that there are three religions to which they owe allegiance and\nyet that these are essentially one. They often say, \u201cThe three teachings are\nthe whole teaching.\u201d An old scholar is reported to have remarked, \u201cThe three\nroads are different, but they lead to the same source.\u201d A common story reports\nthat Confucius was asked in the other world about drinking wine, which\nBuddhists forbid but Taoists permit. Confucius replied: \u201cIf I do not drink I\nbecome a Buddha. If I drink I become an Immortal. Well, if there is wine, I\nshall drink; if there is none, I shall abstain.\u201d This expresses\ncharacteristically the Chinese habit of adaptation. Such a decision sounds\nquite up to date.\n\nThe Ethical Culture Society of Peking, recently organized, has upon its walls\npictures of Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius and Christ. Its members claim to worship\nShang Ti as the god of all religions. An offshoot of this society, the T\u2019ung\nShan She, associates the three founders very closely with Christ. It claims to\nhave a deeper revelation of Christ than the Christians themselves. A new\norganization, the Tao Yuan, plans to harmonize the three old religions with\nMohammedanism and Christianity.\n\nBuddhism has consistently and continually striven to bring about a unity of\nreligion in China by interpenetrating Confucianism and Taoism. Quite early the\nBuddhists invented the story that the Bodhisattva Ju T\u2019ung was really Confucius\nincarnate. There was at one time a Buddhist temple to Confucius in the province\nof Shantung. The Buddhists also gave out the story that Bodhisattva Kas\u2019yapa\nwas the incarnation of Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism. An artist painted Lao\nTzu transformed into a Buddha, seated in a lotus bud with a halo about his\nhead. In front of the Buddha was Confucius doing reverence. A Chinese scholar,\nasked for his opinion about the picture, said: \u201cBuddha should be seated; Lao\nTzu should be standing at the side looking askance at Buddha; and Confucius\nshould be grovelling on the floor.\u201d\n\nA monument dating from 543 A. D., illustrates this tendency of Buddhism to\nrepresent its own superiority in Chinese religious life. At the top of the\nmonument is Brahma, lower down is S\u00e2kyamuni with his disciples, Ananda and\nKas\u2019yapa on one face, and on the other S\u00e2kyamuni again, conversing with Buddha\nPrabhutaratna and worshipped by monks and Bodhisattvas. On the pedestal are\nConfucian and Taoist deities, ten in number. Thus Buddhism sought to rank\nitself clearly above the other two religions. From the early days Buddhism\nregarded itself as their superior and began the processes of interpenetration\nand absorption. In consequence the values originally inherent in Buddhism have\ncome to be regarded as the natural possession of the Chinese. It does express\ntheir religious life, especially in South China, where outward manifestations\nof religion are perhaps more marked than in the north.\n\n\n\n\nIV\nBUDDHISM AND THE PEASANT\n\n\nIn order that, one may realize the place that Buddhism holds in the religious\nlife of the Chinese people as a whole, he must turn to the organizations\nthrough which it functions. It is sometimes difficult to estimate the place of\nBuddhism in China, because it so interpenetrates the whole cultural and social\nlife of the people. It becomes their \u201cway.\u201d To see how it touches the life of\nthe average man or woman in various ways will, therefore, be illuminating. The\nmost outstanding evidence of devotion are the many monasteries which dot the\nland in all Buddhist countries. China is less dominated by them than other\nlands, yet they form a very important reason for the persistence and strength\nof Buddhism there. One of the famous old shrines will represent them as a class\nand give evidence of their importance.\n\n_1. The Monastery of Kushan_\n\nKushan Monastery, located about four hours\u2019 ride by sedan-chair from Foochow,\nis a famous shrine of South China. It occupies a large amphitheater about\nfifteen hundred feet above the plain, part way up Kushan, the \u201cDrum Mountain,\u201d\nsome three thousand feet high. From the top of the mountain on clear days with\nthe help of a glass the blue shores of Formosa may be seen on the eastern\nhorizon. The spacious monastery buildings are surrounded by a grove of noble\ntrees, in which squirrels, pheasants, chipmunks and snakes enjoy an undisturbed\nlife.\n\nThe ascent to the monastery begins on the bank of the Min River. At the foot of\nthe mountain in a large temple the traveler may obtain mountain chairs carried\nby two or more coolies. The road, paved with granite slabs cut from the\nmountain side, consists of a series of stone stairs, which zig-zag up the\nmountain under the shadow of ancient pine trees. Every turn brings to view a\nbit of landscape carpeted with rice, or a distant view where mountains and sky\nmeet. A brook rushes by the side of the road. Here it breaks into a beautiful\nwaterfall. There it gurgles\u2019 in a deep ravine. The sides of the road are\ncovered with large granite blocks which, loosened from the mountain side by\nearthquakes, have disposed themselves promiscuously. Their blackened,\nweather-beaten sides are incised with Chinese characters. One of them bears the\nwords: \u201cWe put our trust in Amit\u00e2bha.\u201d Another immortalizes the sentiments of\nsome great official who has made the pilgrimage to the mountain. Near the\nmonastery stand the sombre dagobas where repose the ashes of former abbots and\nmonastery officials. Not far away on the other side of the road, hidden by\ntrees, is the crematory where the last remains of the brethren are consumed by\nthe flames.\n\nAs one approaches the monastery he hears the regular sounds of a bell tolled by\na water-wheel, reminding the faithful of Buddha\u2019s law. He sees monks strolling\nleisurely about and lay brethren carrying wood, cultivating the gardens, or\ntending the animals released by pious devotees to heap up merit for themselves\nin the next world. Just inside the main gate is a large fish pond, where\ngoldfish of great size struggle with one another, and with the lazy turtles,\nfor the round hard cakes purchased from the monks by the merit-seeking devotee.\n\nThe monastery itself consists of a large group of buildings erected about\nstone-paved courts, rising in terraces on the mountain side. The large court at\nthe entrance leads to the \u201cHall of the Four Kings.\u201d As one enters the spacious\ndoor, he _is_ faced by a jolly, almost naked image of the \u201cLaughing\nBuddha.\u201d This is Maitr\u00eaya, the Mea siah of the Buddhists, who will return to\nthe world five thousand years after the departure of S\u00e2kyamuni. In the northern\nmonasteries Maitr\u00eaya is often represented as reaching a height when standing of\nseventy feet or more, which indicates the stature to which man will attain when\nhe returns to earth. On each side of the visitor are two immense images of the\nDeva kings. In Brahman cosmogony they were the guardians of the world. In this\nentrance hall of the Buddhist monastery they stand as guardians of the Buddhist\nfaith. In the same hall looking toward the open court beyond is Wei To, another\nguardian deity of Buddhism. Somewhere near by is Kuan Ti, the god worshipped by\nthe soldiers and merchants. Although a Confucian god, he was early adopted by\nBuddhist monks into their pantheon and made the guardian of their Order.\n\nBeyond this entrance hall is a large stone-paved court. On the right side is a\nbell-tower whose bell is tolled by a monk who has kept the vow of silence for\nfourteen years. On the left is a drum-tower. On the right one finds a series of\nsmall shrines. A passage way leads to the library where numerous Buddhist\nwritings repose in lacquered cases, some of them written in their own blood by\ndevout monks. On the same side are guest halls, the dining room for three\nhundred monks, and the spacious, well equipped kitchen with running water piped\nfrom a reservoir in the hills above. A store where books, images and the simple\nrequirements of the monks can be obtained is just above the dining room. On the\nleft side of the court are large buildings used as dormitories far the monks,\nstorerooms, and for housing the great printing establishment with its thousands\nof wooden blocks on which are carved passages from the Buddhist scriptures.\nHere also are kept the coffins in which the monks are to be burned.\n\nOn a terrace above the north side of the court rises the main hall, called the\n\u201cHall of the Triratna,\u201d the Buddhist Trinity, where three gilded images are\nseated on a lotus flower with halos covering their backs and heads. The center\nimage is that of S\u00e2kyamuni, the Buddha. On his right is Yao Shih, the Buddha of\nmedicine, and on the left, Amit\u00e2bha. Quite often these images are said to\nrepresent the Buddha, the Law and the Community of Monks. On the altar are\ncandlesticks and a fine incense burner from which curls of smoke arise. An\nimmense lamp hangs from the ceiling. In the rear are banners with praises to\nBuddha given by pious devotees. The floor is tiled and covered with round mats\nmade of palm fiber on which the monks kneel during worship. Before the mats are\nlow stands for books. On each side of this main hall are the images of nine\nBuddhist saints (_arhats_), eighteen in all. Behind this large temple\nopens another court and on a terrace above it stands the hall of the Law with\nthe images of Kuan Yin, the goddess of Mercy, and the twenty-four devas. Here\nalso are small images of viceroys and patrons of the monastery.\n\nThe hillsides are dotted with numerous temples and shrines. There is one to\nChu-Hsi, the great philosopher of the Sung dynasty, who was born in Fukien. In\nit are preserved a few characters indited by his hand. On the west side of the\nmonastery are large buildings for the housing of animals released by\nmerit-seeking devotees. Here cows, hogs, goats, chickens, geese and ducks spend\ntheir old age without fear of beginning their transmigration by forming the\nmain portion of a Chinese feast.\n\nThe monastery is governed by an abbot, usually a man of good business ability,\nelected by the monks. Under him are the officers of the two wings or groups of\nattendants. One set looks after the spiritual interests, of the monks;\nthe-other takes care of their material needs: The monks have worship about two\no\u2019clock in the morning and again at about four in the afternoon. The rest of\nthe long day they spend in meditation, or study, in strolling about the\nmountain side or in sleep. Their life is separated from all stirring contact\nwith the life of the world.\n\n_2. Monasteries Control F\u00eang-shui_\n\nThis monastery with its appointments is a good type of the monasteries all over\nChina. It was founded at the request of the inhabitants of the neighborhood,\nbecause the dragons of the region used to cause much damage to the crops in the\nsurrounding country. A holy monk came, founded the monastery, and by his good\ninfluence so curbed the dragons that the country-side has enjoyed peace ever\nsince and the monastery has prospered. Since the fourth century of our era\nrecords show that by the building of monasteries in strategic place\u2019s holy\nmonks brought rains and prosperity to various regions, or prevented floods and\ncalamities from damaging the villages. In other words the monasteries are\nregarded as the controllers of _f\u00eang-shui_ (wind and water). According to\nthe Chinese philosophy winds and water are spiritual forces and may be so\ncontrolled by other spiritual forces that instead of bringing harm they will\nconfer benefit upon the people. Floods and dry seasons are so frequent in China\nthat any institution holding out the promise of regulating them would become\nfirmly established in the affection of the people. The monasteries have taken\nthis place.\n\nOne of the picturesque features of a Chinese landscape is the pagoda. These\nstructures were introduced in the early stages of Buddhism to enshrine the\nrelics of Buddha. It was said that Buddha\u2019s body consisted of eighty thousand\nparts, hence numerous pagodas were erected to shelter these relics. Inasmuch as\na pagoda contained the relics of Buddha, it possessed magic power and so came\nto play a great part in the control of the winds and the rains. The pagoda in\nChina has an odd number of stories varying from three to thirteen. The odd\nnumbers belong to the positive principle in nature which is superior to the\nnegative principle. The pagoda plays quite a part in the festivals of the\npeople. On certain occasions the stories are hung with lanterns and the pagodas\nare visited by numerous throngs.\n\n_3. Prayer for Rain_\n\nPrayers for rain afford such a common illustration of the relation of Buddhism\nto the life of the peasant that a detailed presentation of such a service may\nbe of seal value.\n\nDuring a prolonged drought in some district of China, when the heat opens\ngaping cracks in the fields and the grain is drying up, the populace may visit\ntheir highest official and apprise him of the dire situation. He often forbids\nthe slaughter of all animals for three days and, in case rain has not thereby\ncome, he goes in person or sends a deputy to the nearest monastery to direct\nthe monks to pray for rain.\n\n_(a) The Altar._\u2014On such an occasion the great hall of the Law may be used\nfor the ceremony. Quite often a special altar is erected in an enclosure near\nthe monastery on a platform one foot high and twenty-five feet on each side,\noverspread by a tent of green cloth. In the center seats are arranged for the\npresiding monk and his assistants. On each of the four sides of the altar is\nplaced an image of the Dragon King who is supposed to control the rain. If an\nimage is not obtainable a piece of paper inscribed with the name of the dragon\nmay be used. Flowers, fruits and incense are spread before the images. On the\ndoors of the tent are painted dragons with clouds. The tent and altar are green\nand the monks wear green garments, because green belongs to the spring and\nsuggests rain. For this ceremony the monks prepare themselves by abstinence and\ncleansing. The presiding monk is one of high moral character and religious\nfervor. While some monks recite appropriate sutras, two others look after the\nofferings, the incense, and the sprinkling of water during the ceremony to\nsuggest the coming of rain. The services continue day and night, being\nconducted by groups of monks in succession.\n\n_(b) The Prayer Service._\u2014The ceremonial is opened by a chant as follows:\n\n\u201cPearly dew of the jade heavens, golden waves of Buddha\u2019s ocean, scatter the\nlotus flowers on a thousand thousand worlds of suffering, that the heart of\nmercy may wash away great calamity, that a drop may become a flood, that a drop\nmay purify mountains and rivers.\n\n\u201cWe put our trust in the Bodhisattvas and Mah\u00e2sattvas that purify the earth.\u201d\n\nThe chant ended, a monk takes a bowl of water and repeats thrice: \u201cWe put our\ntrust in the great merciful Kuan Yin Bodhisattva.\u201d Then follows the chant:\n\n\u201cThe Bodhisattva\u2019s sweet dew of the willow is able to make one drop spread over\nthe ten directions. It washes away the rank odors and dirt. It keeps the altars\nclean and pure. The mysterious words of the doctrine will be reverently\nrepeated.\u201d\n\nThis chant ended, the monks intone incantations of Kuan Yin, quite\nunintelligible even to them, but of magical value. While these are being\nuttered, the presiding monk and his attendants walk around the altar, while one\nof them with a branch sprinkles water on the floor. This symbolizes the\ncleansing of the altar and of the monks from all impurities which might render\nthe ritual ineffective. When the perambulating monks have returned to their\nplace, while the sprinkler continues his duties, the monks repeat the words:\n\u201cWe put our trust in the sweet dew kings, Bodhisattvas and Mah\u00e2sattvas.\u201d\n\nThe Bodhisattvas have now come to the purified altar and while the abbot offers\nincense to them, the monks repeat the words:\n\n\u201cThe fields are destroyed so that they resemble the back of a tortoise. The\ndemons of drought produce calamity. The dark people [Footnote: A term denoting\nthe Chinese.] pray earnestly while crops are being destroyed. We pray that\nabundant, limpid liquid may descend to purify and refresh the whole world. The\nclouds of incense rise.\u201d\n\nThis plaint is repeated thrice and is followed by an invocation:\n\n\u201cWholeheartedly we cast ourselves to the earth, O Triratna, who dost exist\neternally in the realm of _dharma_ of the ten directions.\u201d\n\nThe leader remains quiet a long time with his eyes closed, visualizing the\nBuddhas, the Bodhisattvas, the dragon kings, and the saints, all with their\nheavenly eyes and ears knowing that this region is afflicted with drought, that\nan altar has been constructed and that all have come to make petition. This\nmeditation is regarded as of chief importance. It is followed by an\nannouncement to the effect that the sutra praying for rain was given by the\nBuddha, that a drought is afflicting the land, that the altar has been erected\nin accordance with the regulations and that prayer is being made for rain. But\nfearing that something may have been overlooked, the magic formula of \u201cthe king\nof light who turns the wheel\u201d is read seven times so as to remedy such\noversight.\n\nThe altar having thus been cleansed of all impurities, the rain sutra is opened\nand the one hundred and eighty-eight dragon kings are urged by name in groups\nof ten to take action. The formula is as follows:\n\n\u201cWe with our whole heart invite such and such dragon kings to come. We desire\nthat the heart and wisdom which knows others intuitively will move the spirits\nabove to obey the Buddha, to take pity on the people below and to come to our\nprovince and send down sweet rain.\u201d\n\nWhen the dragons have all been duly invited, the monks chant suitable magical\nformulas, while the leader sits in meditation visualizing these dragon kings\nand their tender solicitude for the people in distress. The monastery bell is\nsounded and the wooden fish is beaten, while drums and cymbals add their\neffect. The whole is intended to draw the attention of the dragon kings to the\ndrought. Then the fifty-four Buddhas are invited in a similar manner in groups\nof ten, the sixth group consisting of four. A similar form of address is used\nand similar magical formulas are recited with the noisy accompaniment. The\nceremony concludes by the expression of the hope that the three jewels (Buddha,\nthe Law and the Community of Monks) and the dragon kings will grant the rain.\n\nUpon the altar are four copies of an announcement to the dragon kings and\nBuddhas. On the first day three copies are sent to them through the flames, one\nto the Buddhas, one to the dragon kings and one to the devas. One copy is read\ndaily and then sent up at the thanksgiving ceremony. The announcement is as\nfollows:\n\n\u201cWe put our trust in the limitless, reverent ocean clouds, the dragons of\naugust virtue and all their host, all dragon kings and holy saints. Their\naugust virtue is difficult to measure. In accord with the command of Buddha\nthey send liquid rain. May their quiet mercy descend to the altar; may they\nsend down purity and freshness, spreading over the ten directions. We put our\ntrust in the company of dragon kings of the clouds, the saints and the\nBodhisattvas.\u201d\n\nThe offerings are made only in the morning inasmuch as the Buddhas, following\nancient custom, are not supposed to eat after the noonday meal. Great care is\ntaken that the altar shall not be desecrated by any one who eats meat or drinks\nwine. The magic formulas of great mercy are uttered or the name of Kuan Yin is\nrepeated a thousand times. The monks, take turn in these services which\ncontinue day and night until rain comes.\n\n_(c) Its Meaning._\u2014In the religious consciousness of the people is the\nidea that the drought is a punishment for sin. The altar is made pure and\nacceptable and sin is removed in various symbolic ways. This fits in with the\nidea that man is an intimate part of the world order. His sin disturbs the\norder of nature. Heaven manifests displeasures by sending down calamities upon\nmen. Men should cease their wrongdoing which disturbs the natural order and\nshould also wash away the effects of their sins. The services for rain with\ntheir magic formulas help to clear away the consequences of sin and to\npredispose Heaven to grant its blessings again.\n\n_4. Monasteries Are Supported Because They Control F\u00eang-shui_\n\nThe prayers for rain are an important part of the Chinese peasant\u2019s world\norder. Drought is the manifestation of Heaven\u2019s displeasure at the infraction\nof Heaven\u2019s laws. It calls for self-examination and repentance. Thus the\nmonastery opens up the windows of the universal order as this touches the\nhumble tiller of the soil.\n\nThe Buddhist monasteries not only hold services in time of drought, but also in\ntime of flood and at times when plagues of grasshoppers afflict the land, or\nwhen diseases afflict human beings. Their adoption of Chinese customs led them\nto have special ceremonies at the eclipse of the sun and moon, although they\nknew the cause of the eclipse. Peasants and officials support the monastery\nbecause of these services regulating the wind and water influences and through\nthem bringing the people into harmonious relation with the great world of\nspirits.\n\n\n\n\nV\nBUDDHISM AND THE FAMILY\n\n\nOne of the criticisms of the Chinese against Buddhism is that it is opposed to\nfilial piety. According to Mencius the greatest unfilial act is to leave no\nprogeny. In spite of this charge Buddhism has done much for the family. It has\ntaken over the ethics of the family, filial piety, obedience and respect for\nelders, and has made them a part of its system. Transgression of these\nfundamental duties is visited by dire punishments in the next world. The\nfaithful observance is followed not only by the rewards of the Confucian\nsystem, but results in the greatest rewards in the future life.\n\n_1. Kuan Yin, the Giver of Children and Protector of Women_\n\nBuddhism has done more. Out of its atmosphere of love and mercy toward all\nbeings has developed Kuan Yin, the ideal of Chinese womanhood, the goddess of\nMercy, who embodies the Chinese ideal of beauty, filial piety and compassion\ntoward the weak and suffering. She is especially the goddess of women, being\ninterested in all their affairs. Her image is found in almost every household\nand her temples have a place in every part of China.\n\nA brief history of this deity will enable us to understand the significance of\nthe cult. Kuan Yin started as a male god in India, called Aval\u00f4kit\u00easvara, who\nwas worshipped from the third to the seventh century of our era. He was the\nprotector of sailors and people in danger. In the course of time, either in\nChina or in India, the god became a goddess. Some think that this was due to\nthe influence of Christianity. In China both forms survive, though the goddess\nis better known. A Buddhist once said that a Bodhisattva is neither male nor\nfemale and appears in whatever form is convenient.\n\nKuan Yin is a very popular goddess. Her experiences in Hades are dramatically\npresented by traveling theatrical companies. Her deeds of mercy are portrayed\nin art. Her well known story runs as follows:\n\nKuan Yin was the daughter of the ruler of a prosperous kingdom located\nsomewhere near the island of Sumatra. Her birth was announced to the queen by a\ndream. The little girl ate no meat nor milk. Her disposition was very good. Her\nintelligence was most extraordinary. Once she read anything she never forgot\nit.\n\nAt the age of sixteen her father tried to betroth her to a young prince. She\nrefused and decided to give herself to a life of fasting and abstinence.\nAngered b-v her obstinacy the father ordered her to take off her court dress\nand jewels, to put on the garb of a servant and to carry water for the garden.\nThe garden never looked so beautiful. The daughter also looked well and showed\nno signs of weariness, because the gods assisted her in her work.\n\nRelenting a little the king sent an older sister to urge Kuan Yin to accept the\nhusband he had found for her. When she refused, he sent her to a monastery and\ncharged the abbess to treat her harshly, so that she might be forced to return\nhome. Expecting to win the king\u2019s favor, the abbess put the most unpleasant\ntasks on the girl. But again the gods assisted her and made her work light, so\nthat her tasks were always well done and the young woman was cheerful.\n\nOne day the report came to the king that his daughter was associating with a\nyoung monk discussing heterodox doctrines and that she had given birth to a\nchild. This news so enraged the king that he burned the monastery, killing many\nmonks. The princess was captured and brought before him. Inasmuch as she was\nobdurate, the king ordered her to be executed. The executioner\u2019s sword,\nhowever, broke into a thousand pieces without doing her any injury. The king\nthen ordered her to be strangled. A golden image sixteen feet high appeared on\nthe spot. The princess laughed and cried: \u201cWhere there was no image, an image\nappeared. I see the real form. When body flesh is strangled, then appear the\nlights of ten thousand roads.\u201d She went to purgatory and purgatory at once\nchanged into paradise. Yama, in order to save his purgatory, sent her back to\nthe world. She appeared at Puto, an island off the coast of Chekiang near\nNingpo. Here she rescued sailors and performed many miracles for people in\ndistress.\n\nIn the meantime the father, who had committed many sins, became sick. His\nallotted time of life had been shortened by twenty years. Moreover, an ulcer\ngrew on his body for every one of the five hundred monks he had killed when he\nburned the monastery. A miserable, loathsome old man, he came to an old monk,\nwho was really the princess in disguise, and asked for help. The monk told him\nthat an eye and an arm of a blood relative made into medicine was the only cure\nfor his trouble. The two living daughters were willing to make such an\noffering, but their husbands would not permit them to do so. The old monk urged\nthe monarch to take up a life of abstinence, to rebuild the monastery he had\nburned, and to provide money for services to take the five hundred monks whom\nhe had killed through purgatory. He also said that a nun in the convent would\noffer an arm and an eye. When the monarch entered the monastery, he found\nhanging before the incense burner an arm and an eye. These were boiled, mixed\nwith medicine and rubbed on the king\u2019s body. He soon became well. Further\ninquiry revealed that these members belonged to his daughter.\n\nThis is the story of the most popular goddess in China. She is worshipped by\nher devotees on the first and fifteenth of every month, on the nineteenth of\nthe sixth month, when she became a Bodhisattva, and on the nineteenth of the\nninth month, when she put on the necklace. A month after marriage every young\nbride is presented with an image of the Goddess of Mercy, an incense-burner and\ncandlesticks.\n\nThis goddess is worshipped whenever trouble comes to man or woman. Her names\nsignify her willingness to listen to all prayers. She is the \u201cone who regards\nthe voice,\u201d i.e., prayer; \u201cone who hears the prayers of the world;\u201d \u201cone who\nregards and exists by himself as sovereign;\u201d \u201cthe ancestor of Buddha who\nregards prayer;\u201d \u201cone who frees from fear;\u201d \u201cBuddha the august king;\u201d \u201cthe\ngreat white robed scholar;\u201d \u201cgreat compassion and mercy.\u201d\n\n_2. Kuan Yin, the Model of Local Mother-Goddesses_\n\nThis conception is the creation of the social and religious consciousness of\nthe women in China. It reveals their aspirations for mercy, compassion, filial\npiety and for the beauty that crowns a well developed character. Such an ideal\ndoes not mean that these have been realized in all the numerous homes of the\nChinese, but it manifests their sense of such an ideal to be realized in life\nand their ardent longing for its realization.\n\nMother-goddesses are found all over China and they have all of them been\ninfluenced by Kuan Yin. Some of them have originated with actual women who were\ndeified after death. Here is the story of one of these goddesses who presides\nover the censer in a small temple in Formosa. She was born in the province of\nKuangtung. At the age of seven she was adopted by a family as the future wife\nof their eighteen-year-old son. One day while crossing a river he was drowned.\nThis was a great blow to her. When she was fourteen years old the father of the\nfamily died. The two women, thus left alone, wept bitterly day and night. The\ncomfort of relatives was of little avail. The mother was becoming emaciated\nwith grief. The daughter, unable to bear the strain any longer, washed herself,\nburned incense before the ancestral tablet of her betrothed, and then took this\nvow:\n\n\u201cI am willing to remain a virgin, to apply myself to carrying water and working\nat the mortar and to serve my mother-in-law. If I cherish any other purpose and\nchange my chastity and obedience, may Heaven slay me and earth annihilate me.\u201d\n\nWhen the mother heard this vow she stopped her weeping. Inasmuch as they had no\nuncle to look after them, they worked day and night. A relative of her future\nhusband gave her one of his sons as an adopted son. The child died after a few\nmonths. This was a great grief. Then the mother died. The daughter sold her\npossessions to obtain money for a proper burial. She had only a coarse mourning\ncloth for her dress. After a while she adopted a child as her son. When he grew\nup she found him a wife who served her as faithfully as she had served her\nmother-in-law. When she was eighty years old, she dreamed that the golden maid\nand jade messenger of Kuan Yin stood beside her saying: \u201cThe court of Heaven\nhas ordered you to become a god (sh\u00ean).\u201d She died soon after this. She said of\nherself:\n\n\u201cShang Ti took compassion upon me during my life, because with a firm heart I\nkept my chastity and served my mother-in-law with complete obedience. Therefore\nhe gave me the office of Kuan Pin. I have performed my duties in several\nplaces. Now I am transferred to Formosa.\u201d\n\nThis story and many others like it mirror the moral ideals of the women of\nChina in the midst of their struggles for help and light and guidance.\n\n_3. Exhortations on Family Virtues_\n\nThe Buddhists issue a large number of tracts. These are very commonly paid for\nby devotees who make a vow that, if their parent becomes well, they will pay\nfor the printing of several hundred or thousand of these tracts for free\ndistribution. In these tracts are usually many stories illustrating the rewards\nof filial piety. The story is told in one of them about a Mrs. Chin whose\nfather-in-law being ill was unable to sleep for sixty days. His condition grew\nworse. Mrs. Chin knelt before Kuan Yin\u2019s altar, cut out a piece of flesh from\nher arm and cooked it with the father\u2019s food. His health at once improved and\nhe lived to the age of seventy-seven. Another story is told in the same tract\nof a woman who cut out a piece of her liver and gave it as medicine to her\nmother-in-law.\n\nThese Buddhist tracts take up all the moral habits which make the family and\nclan strong and stable and surround them by the highest sanctions. A tract\npicked up in a Buddhist temple at Hangchow purports to be the revelation of the\nwill of Buddha. It urges sixteen virtues. The first is filial piety. The tract\nsays:\n\n\u201cFilial piety is the chief of all virtues. Heaven and Earth honor filial piety.\nThere is no greater sin than to cherish unfilial thoughts. The spirits know the\nbeginning of such thoughts. Heaven openly rewards a heart that is filial.\u201d\n\nThe second one mentioned is another important family virtue, namely, reverence:\n\n\u201cThe saints, sages, immortals and Buddhas are the outgrowth of reverence. The\ngreatest sin is to lack reverence for father and mother. When brothers lack\nreverence for one another, they harm the hands and feet. When husband and wife\nlack reverence, the harmony of the household is ruined. When friends do not\nhave reverence, they bring about calamity.\u201d\n\nThen follow similar exhortations on sincerity, justice, self-restraint,\nforbearance, benevolence, generosity, absence of pride, covetousness, lying,\nadultery, mutual love, self-denial, hope for the consolations of religion and\nfor an undivided heart ruled by peace. These are virtues quite essential to the\nintegrity of the family. They are taught, not in the abstract but by the\nexhibition of shining examples, by vivid representations of the rewards both\nhere and hereafter, and by pictures of awful punishments. So by precept and\nexample, by threat of punishment here and hereafter and by declaration of\nreward in the future Buddhism has tried to maintain the family virtues of the\nConfucian system and has attempted to permeate them by the spirit of sacrifice.\nStill it has always been the sacrifice of the weak for the strong, of the young\nfor the aged, of the low for the high, of women for men.\n\n_4. Services for the Dead_\n\nBuddhism very early took over the relatively simple services for the dead and\ndeveloped them into an elaborate ritual which made very vivid the spiritual\nuniverse which Buddhism introduced. In the sixth century a service was held in\nbehalf of the father-in-law of Emperor Ning Ti (516-528 A. D.) for seven times\nevery seven days. He feasted a thousand monks every day, and caused seven\npersons to become monks. On the hundredth day after the death he feasted ten\nthousand monks and caused twenty-seven persons to become monks.\n\nSince that time services on every seventh day after the decease until the\nforty-ninth day, when a grand finale ends the ceremonies, have been very\npopular.\n\nThe object of such services is to conduct the soul of the dead through\npurgatory, in order that it may return to life or enter the Western Paradise.\nThis is done by making a pleasing offering to the guardians and officers of\npurgatory, and to the gods and Bodhisattvas whose mercy saves people. Numerous\nmissives are consigned to the flames, informing the rulers of the nether world\nabout the soul of the dead; offerings of gold and silver, of various articles\nof apparel, of trunks, houses, and servants are made, all, however, made out of\nbamboo frames covered with paper. Various powerful incantations are recited\nwhich force open the gates of purgatory and let the soul out.\n\nThe services may be crowded into one day or they may be held on every seventh\nday until the forty-ninth day, i.e., seven sevens. Various explanations are\ngiven\u2019 for these services.\n\nDuring the first week the soul of the dead arrives at the \u201cDemon Gate Barrier.\u201d\nHere money is demanded by the demons on the ground that in his last\ntransmigration the deceased borrowed money. Accordingly large quantities of\nsilver shoes [Footnote: The silver used for this purpose is molded, in\naccordance with ancient usage, in the shape of shoes and carried about in that\nform by merchants.] must be sent to the dead so that he may settle all claims\nand avoid beating and inconvenience. During the second week the soul arrives at\na place where he is weighed. If the evil outweighs the good, the soul is sawn\nasunder and ground to powder. In the third week he comes to the \u201cBad Dog\u201d\nvillage. Here good people pass unharmed, but the evil are torn by the fierce\nbeasts until the blood flows. In the fourth week the soul is confronted with a\nlarge mirror in which he sees his evil deeds and their consequences, seeing\nhimself degraded in the next transmigration to a beast. In the fifth week the\nsoul views the scenes in his own village.\n\nIn the sixth week he reaches the bridge which spans the \u201cInevitable River.\u201d\nThis bridge is 100,000 feet high and one and three-tenths of an inch wide. It\nis crossed by riding astride as on a horse. Beneath rushes the whirl-pool\nfilled with serpents darting their heads to and fro. At the foot of the bridge\nlictors force unwilling travelers to ascend. The good do not cross this bridge,\nbut are led by \u201cgolden youth\u201d to gold and silver bridges which cross the stream\non either side of this \u201cBridge of Sighs.\u201d\n\nIn the seventh week the soul is taken first to Mrs. Wang who dispenses a drink\nwhich blots out all memories of the earthly life. Then the individual enters\nthe great wheel of transmigration. This is divided into eighty-one sections\nfrom which one hundred and eight thousand small and tortuous paths radiate out\ninto the four continents of the world. The soul is directed along one of these\npaths and is duly reborn in the world as an animal or as a human being or\npasses on into the Western Paradise.\n\nIn imitation of this bridge a bridge is built of tables in front of the home of\nthe dead. At the end the tables are placed upside down and a lantern placed on\neach table-leg. At night this bridge is illuminated. A company of monks repeat\ntheir prayers and incantations, while others mount upon the bridge to\nimpersonate devils. The pious son with the tablet of his deceased parent comes\nto take his father over the bridge. When his way is disputed by the demons, he\nfalls on his knees and begs and gives them money, negotiating the passage at\nlast with the aid of a large quantity of silver.\n\nAnother ceremony is the breaking through purgatory. Five supplications duly\nsigned are addressed to the proper authorities, four being suspended at each of\nthe four sides of the table and one at the center. Tiles are then placed over\nthe table or on the ground. After incantations have been repeated to the\naccompaniment of the sounding of the bell and the wooden fish, the\nsupplications are burned and the tiles are broken as a symbol of breaking\nthrough purgatory and of releasing the soul.\n\nThus Buddhism has taken over the most important function of ancestor worship,\nhas extended it and made it more significant to each individual as well as to\nthe family.\n\n\n\n\nVI\nBUDDHISM AND SOCIAL LIFE\n\n\n_1. How the Laity is Trained in Buddhist Ideas_\n\nA common way of emphasizing moral ideas among the people by Buddhist teachers\nis the use of tracts purporting to have a divine origin. The following gives\nthe substance of such a tract:\n\nNot long ago in the province of Shantung, there was a sharp and sudden clap of\nthunder. After the frightened people had collected their wits, they discovered\na small book written in red in front of the house of a certain Mr. Li. Mr. Li\npicked up the book, copied it and read it reverently. He gave a copy to Mr. Ma,\nthe prefect, but Mr. Ma did not believe in the book. Thereupon Maitr\u00eaya, the\nMessiah of the Buddhists, spoke from the sky as follows:\n\n\u201cThese are the years of the final age. The people under heaven do not reverence\nHeaven and Earth, they are not filial to father and mother, they do not respect\ntheir superiors. They cheat the fatherless, impose upon the widow, oppress the\nweak; they use large weights for themselves and small measures for others. They\ninjure the good. They covet for their own profit. They cheat men of money, use\nthe five grains carelessly, kill the cow that draws the plow. This volume is\nsent for their special benefit. If they recite it they will avoid trouble. If\nthey disbelieve, the years with the cyclical character _Ping_ and\n_Ting_ will have fields without men to plant them and houses without men\nto live in them. In the fifth month of these years evil serpents will infest\nthe whole country. In the eighth and ninth months the bodies of evil men will\nfill the land.\n\n\u201cThose who believe this book and propagate its teachings will not encounter the\nten sorrows of the age: war, fire, no peace day and night, separation of man\nand wife, the scattering of the sons and daughters, evil men spread over the\ncountry, dead bones unburied, clothing with no one to wear it, rice with no one\nto eat it, and the difficulty of ever seeing a peaceful year. S\u00e2kyamuni\nforeseeing this final age sent down this volume in Shantung. The Goddess of\nMercy saw the sorrows of all living beings. Maitr\u00eaya commanded the two runners\nof T\u2019ai Shan, the god of the Eastern Mountain, to investigate the conduct of\nmen and as a first punishment to increase the price of rice, and then besides\nthe ten sorrows already mentioned above, to inflict the punishments of flood,\nfire, wind, thunder, tigers, snakes, sword, disease, famine and cold. The rule\nof S\u00e2kyamuni which has lasted twelve thousand years is now fulfilled, and\nMaitr\u00eaya succeeds to his place.\u201d\n\nThese sorrows may be escaped by reciting this sutra whose substance we find\nabove. If it is repeated three times the person will escape the calamity of\nfire and water. If one man passes it on to ten men and ten men pass it on to a\nhundred, they will escape the calamities of sword, disease and imprisonment,\nand receive blessings which cannot be measured. He who in addition to repeating\nthe sutra practices abstinence will insure peace for himself. He who presents\none hundred copies to others will insure his personal peace. He who presents a\nthousand copies will insure the peace of his family. He who is attacked by\ndisease, may escape it by taking five cash of the reign of Shun Chih (1644-1661\nA. D.), the first emperor of the Ch\u2019ing dynasty, one mace of the seed of\ncypress, one mace of the bark of mulberry, boil in one bowl of water until only\neight-tenths of the water remain, drink and he will become well.\n\nIn this way the five Buddhist commandments for the laity not to kill any living\ncreature, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, and not to use\nintoxicating liquor are propagated and made real to the common man. The method\nis quite efficient. Whole provinces have been put into a panic by such\nprophecies.\n\n_2. Effect of Ideals of Mercy and Universal Love_\n\nThe command not to kill any living being has had considerable influence in\nChina. There are volumes of stories telling of the punishments which will be\nvisited upon those who disobey and of the rewards of those who release living\nanimals. Every monastery has a special place for animals thus released by pious\ndevotees.\n\nThere is a popular story about a fishmonger of the T\u2019ang dynasty who was taken\nsick and during his illness dreamed that he was taken to purgatory. His body\nwas aflame with fire and pained him as though he were being roasted. Flying\nfiery chariots with darting flames swept around him and burned his body. Ten\nthousand fish strove with one another to get a bite of his flesh. The ruler of\nthe lower regions accused him of killing many fish and hence his punishment.\nFor a number of days he was hanging between life and death. His relatives were\nurged to perform some works of penance. They had his fishing implements burned.\nWith reverent hearts they made two images of Kuan Yin, presented offerings and\nrepented. The whole family performed abstinence, stopped killing living things,\nprinted and gave away over a hundred copies of the Diamond Sutra, and ferried\nover a large number of souls through purgatory. As a result of their efforts\nthe sick man became well.\n\nThe following comment was made on the above story by a scholar. If its premises\nare granted, the conclusion is inevitable:\n\n\u201cIf the fiery chariots are seal, why does not man see them? If they are false,\nhow is it that man feels the pain? But where do the fiery chariots come from?\nThey come from the heart and head of the one who kills fish. The fire in the\nheart (heart belongs to the element fire) causes destruction. The chariot fire\nalso causes destruction.\u201d\n\nThis attitude of mercy has been extended to human beings. There are numerous\ntracts against the drowning of little girls in those regions where this custom\nis prevalent. One tells the following story:\n\nIn the province of Kwangtung there lived a Mrs. Chang who daily burned incense\nand repeated Buddha\u2019s name. One day she and her husband died. Much to their\nsurprise and consternation Yama (the potentate of hell) decided that Mr. Chang\nmust become a pig and Mrs. Chang a dog. Mrs. Chang accordingly went to Yama and\nsaid, \u201cDuring life we honored Buddha and so why should we become animals after\ndeath?\u201d Yama said, \u201cWhat use is it to honor Buddha? During life you drowned\nthree girls whom I sent into life. People with the face of a man and the heart\nof a beast, should they not be punished?\u201d The husband accordingly took on a\npig\u2019s skin and the wife a dog\u2019s. Then by a dream they revealed to their brother\nChang number two that, although they repeated Buddha\u2019s name, they were not\npermitted to be reborn as men, because they had drowned little girls.\n\nPerhaps the extent of this spirit, of mercy and its possibilities may be\nillustrated by the reverence for the ox. While there is a great deal of cruelty\nin China to animals and men, it is rarely that one sees an ox abused. Up to the\nadvent of the foreigner an ox was not killed for meat. In many places in China\ntoday the slaughter of an ox would bring the punishments of the law upon the\nbutcher. No doubt this reverence is due to the great Indian reverence for the\ncow. The law of kindness has been extended to other animals, taking the rather\nspectacular form of releasing a few decrepit animals and allowing them to spend\ntheir last days in a monastery compound. There are many kindly things done in\nChina. The dead are buried, the sick are provided with medicine. Every year\nnumerous wadded garments are given away to poor people. Various groups carrying\non a humble ministry of helpfulness have found a real inspiration in the ideals\nheld before them in Buddhism, the rewards promised and punishments threatened.\n\n_3. Relation to Confucian Ideals_\n\nWhy have not these ideals exercised a larger influence in China? The answer is\nquite simple. The activities of the monks have been strenuously opposed by the\nConfucian state system. The philosopher, Chang Nan-hs\u00fcan, a contemporary of\nChu-Hsi, states concisely for us the differences betwen Confucianism and\nBuddhism in his comment on a passage in the _Book of Records._\n\n\u201cStrong drink is a thing intended to be-used in offering sacrifices and\nentertaining guests,\u2014such employment of it is what Heaven has prescribed. But\nmen by their abuse of such drink come to lose their virtue and destroy their\npersons\u2014such employment of it is what Heaven has annexed its terrors to. The\nBuddhists, hating the use of things where Heaven sends down its terrors, put\naway as well the use of them which Heaven has prescribed.\n\n\u201cFor instance, in the use of meats and drinks, there is such a thing as wildly\nabusing and destroying the creatures of Heaven. The Buddhists, disliking this,\nconfine themselves to a vegetable diet, while we only abjure wild abuse and\ndestruction. In the use of clothes, again, there is such a thing as wasteful\nextravagance. The Buddhists, disliking this, will have no clothes but those of\na dark and sad color, while we only condemn extravagance. They, further,\nthrough dislike of criminal connection between the sexes, would abolish the\nrelation between husband and wife, while we denounce only the criminal\nconnection.\n\n\u201cThe Buddhists, disliking the excesses to which the evil desires of men lead,\nwould put away, along with them, the actions which are in accordance with the\njustice of heavenly principles, while we, the orthodox, put away the evil\ndesires of men, whereupon what are called heavenly principles are the more\nbrightly seen. Suppose the case of a stream of water. The Buddhists, through\ndislike of its being foul with mud, proceed to dam it up with earth. They do\nnot consider that when the earth has dammed up the stream, the supply of water\nwill be cut off. It is not so with us, the orthodox. We seek only to cleanse\naway the mud and sand, so that the pure water may be available for use. This is\nthe difference between the Buddhists and the Learned School.\u201d [Footnote: _Shu\nKing,_ Pt. V, Bk. X, p. 122.]\n\nThis statement reveals at once the opposition of the sect of the Learned and\nthe influence which Buddhism exerted upon its members.\n\nBuddhism while enjoying occasional favor from the state was often zealously\npersecuted. In 819 Han Y\u00fc issued his celebrated act of accusation. In 845 the\nemperor Wu Tsung issued his decree of secularization. At that time 4600\nmonasteries and 40,000 smaller establishments were pulled down and 265,000\nmonks and nuns were sent back to lay life. Their rich lands were confiscated.\nUnder the Ming dynasty, as well as under the Ch\u2019ing dynasty, Buddhism enjoyed a\nprecarious existence. Whether Buddhism would have improved the moral conditions\nof the Chinese; if it had been given a free hand, is difficult to affirm. Still\nits failure is at least partly due to the opposition of Confucian orthodoxy.\n\n_4. The Embodiment of Buddhist Ideals in the Vegetarian sects_\n\nThe state persecutions of Buddhism forced it to leave temporarily its\ninstitutional life and trust itself to the people. These persecutions were\nusually followed by a revival of piety and religion among the people. The\nBuddhist teachers gathered about themselves a large number of lay devotees who\nformed societies which practice religious rites in secret. These sects have\npreserved the genuine Buddhist piety, not only in times of persecution, but at\ntimes when the Buddhist organization under imperial favor was departing from\nits simplicity.\n\nA number of these sects have continued under different names for several\ncenturies. For example, the Tsai Li, a society now enjoying a quiet existence\nin North China, is successor to the White Lotus society. The latter started in\nthe fifth century. Its members sought salvation in the Pure Land of Amitabha.\nIn the eleventh century it enjoyed imperial favor. During the Mongol dynasty it\nfought against the throne with rebels and placed one of its leaders, Chu\nY\u00fcan-chang, a monk, on the throne, who became the founder of the Ming dynasty.\nThe sect was soon proscribed and its members persecuted by the government.\nDuring the Ch\u2019ing dynasty it took part in a rebellion and was ruthlessly\nexterminated. At present it goes under the name of _Tsai Li,_ i.e., within\nthe Li or principles of the three religions. It is a mediator among the three\nreligions.\n\nThere are thirty-one organizations of this sect in Peking and branches\nthroughout North China. The society forbids the use of wine and opium, though\nit does not forbid the use of meat. It usually has a Buddhist image, Kuan Yin\nor some other. It uses Buddhist prayers and incantations. The outstanding\ndoctrines held during its long history have been the hope of salvation in the\nWestern Heaven of Amit\u00e2bha, the early coming of Maitr\u00eaya, the Buddhist Messiah,\nand the large use of magic formulas and incantations.\n\nAnother sect which embodies Buddhist ideals is the Chin Tan, the sect of the\nphilosopher\u2019s stone or pill of immortality. Its founder was the writer of the\nNestorian tablet and so the sect is related to Christianity. It exalts the\nteaching of universal love. This is one of several examples of a supposed\ncontact between Buddhism and Christianity.\n\nThese sects of which the two above are examples are present in all parts of\nChina. They obey the five Buddhist commandments for laymen. The members spend\nmuch time in fasting and prayer, and in the repetition of Buddhist books. Their\nlives as a rule are simple and sincere. They are preparing for rebirth in the\nland of Amit\u00e2bha, or are expecting the early coming of the Buddhist Messiah to\nset this world right. In the meantime, by means of incantations, personal\nregimen and cooperative action they are doing all they can to usher in a better\nstate.\n\n_5. Pilgrimages_\n\nPilgrimages are very popular in China. The famous Buddhist shrines are Wu T\u2019ai\nShan in Shansi, Puto on the coast of Chekiang, Chiu Hua Shan in Anhwei, and\nOmei Shan in Szechuan. These, one on each side of China, represent the four\nelements of Buddhist science, wind, water, fire and earth. They are also the\ncenters of the worship of the four great Bodhisattvas, Wenshu, Kuan Yin,\nTitsang and Puhsien. Besides these large centers there are many others to which\npilgrims direct their footsteps.\n\nIn the spring of the year, when the god of spring covers the earth with a green\nmantle, when the sky and winds call, many start on their pilgrimage. Many go\nsingly and laboriously, kneeling and bowing every few steps. Others go in happy\ncompanies, chaperoned by a pious, village dame, who has organized the group.\nSome go because their turn has come. They are members of a guild which has a\nfund devoted to pilgrimages by its members. Some go for the performance of a\nvow made to Kuan Yin, when the father was sick unto death and the goddess\nprolonged his life. To others it is the culmination of a pious life. All go for\nthe joy which travel in the spring gives.\n\nPuto, an island off the coast of Chekiang, is the goal of many pilgrims from\nall parts of China. In, the monasteries on the island are about two thousand\nmonks. In the pilgrim season this number is increased to ten thousand monks and\nthousands of lay pilgrims.\n\nA group of pilgrims was going along merrily. The sun was bright, lighting up\nthe white caps on the deep blue sea. Spring was rioting all about. One member\nwas an abbot from Hangchow. A small, humble-looking man with a few straggling\nlong hairs where the mustache usually grows, was a lay Buddhist from Wuchang.\nOne was a bright young monk from Tientsin. Last, but almost omnipresent and\nalways bubbling over, was a servant of the abbot from Hangchow. He was in the\npresence of divinity and his whole life was heightened for the time being. \u201cWhy\ndid you come!\u201d they were asked. \u201cWe came to worship the holy mother, Kuan Yin.\u201d\nWhen they entered a shrine each purchased three sticks, of incense and two\ncandles and reverently placed them before the image of the goddess, kneeling\nand bowing. Then they sat and partook of the tea offered by the attendant.\nAfter paying a small gratuity, they went on to the next shrine.\n\nOn the way a large black snake as thick as an arm lazily crossed over the road.\nThey stood, reverent and awestruck, until he disappeared in the grass,\nremarking that this was a good omen. When crossing a sand dune piled up by the\nwinds the abbot from Hangchow remarked that this was called the flying sand,\nwafted there by the goddess who took pity on some travelers who had been\ncompelled to cross a narrow strait in order to come to a cave. This cave,\ncalled Fan Yin Tung, is one of the rifts made by an earthquake and washed out\nby wind and waves. Below it rushes the tide; from above the sun sends down a\nfew rays. Each pilgrim after offering incense looks into the darkness to see\nwhether he can behold in the dark cavern an image of some Buddha. One sees Kuan\nYin and is acclaimed as having had a good vision. Another sees the Laughing\nBuddha. All exclaim that he has been the most fortunate of all, for this Buddha\nis the Messiah to come and he who beholds him will be blessed. So from place to\nplace they wander, chatting and seeing the sights of the island. Thus thousands\nare doing in various parts of China, and in this way strengthening the hold of\nBuddhism upon themselves and their communities.\n\n\n\n\nVII\nBUDDHISM AND THE FUTURE LIFE\n\n\nBefore the advent of Buddhism the Chinese had only a vague idea regarding life\nafter death. The Land and Water Classic mentions the Tu Shuo mountain in the\nEastern Sea, under which spirits of the dead live, the entrance guarded by two\nspirits, Sh\u00ean Tu and Y\u00fc Lei, who are in general control of the demons. In some\nparts of China the names or pictures, of these spirits are placed on the doors\nof a house to guard it. The Taoists early developed the idea of a western\nparadise presided over by the Queen of the West, located at first in the K\u2019un\nLun mountains and later in the islands of the Eastern Sea. This heaven,\nhowever, was limited to Taoist hermits and mystics. Buddhism made a complete\npurgatory and heaven known to every one in China.\n\n_1. The Buddhist Purgatory_\n\nThis is really Buddhism\u2019s most noteworthy addition to China\u2019s religious\nequipment; Buddhism lays much stress upon the experiences of a soul immediately\nafter death. Its punishments are well known to every individual. The temple of\nthe City Guardian found in every walled city has a replica of the court in\npurgatory over which he presides. In the temples of T\u2019ai Shan there is an\nelaborate exhibit of the tortures inflicted on culprits in purgatory. Every\nfuneral service conducted by Buddhists or Taoists is intended to conduct the\nsoul of the dead through purgatory and pictures vividly the progressive\nexperiences from the first seventh day to the seventh seventh day. On the the\nseventh month, on the fifteenth day [about August] a special service is held\nfor the souls of the dead in purgatory. Furthermore, every community has a\ngeneral service [about October] for the souls of those who died a violent death\nor who have no one to look after them. During the war many services were thus\nheld for those who died on the battlefields of Europe. At such services the\nscenes in purgatory are vividly portrayed by pictures and figures. The temples\ndistribute tracts with pictures of purgatory so that women may see them and\nunderstand. On the stage are often acted powerful plays whose scenes are laid\nin Hades. This propaganda is perhaps the most efficient of its kind.\n\nPurgatory is depicted as consisting of ten courts each surrounded by small\nhells, where the soul undergoes punishment and cleansing. The fifth court,\nwhich may be taken as an example of the other courts, is in charge of Yen Lo or\nYama. Yama was once in charge of the first court, but his tender heart pitied\nthe souls who came before him and sent them back to earth. Because of this\nleniency he was placed in charge of the fifth court.\n\nWhen a soul has passed through the first four courts and it has been discovered\nthat there is no good conduct to its credit, it is led to the fifth court and\nexamined every seven days regarding past conduct. In order to get back to the\nworld of men, it eagerly promises to complete various unfinished vows, such as\nto repair monasteries, schools, bridges, or roads, to clean wells, to deepen\nrivers, to distribute good books, to release animals, to take care of aged\nparents, or to bury them suitably. But it is plainly told that the gods know\nits artifices, and that now these unfinished tasks can never be completed. The\ngods have reached the unanimous opinion that no injustice is being done.\nAccordingly there is no appeal, but each soul is led by attendants with bulls\u2019\nheads and horses\u2019 faces to a tower whence they may see their native village.\nIts front is in the shape of a bow with a perimeter of twenty-seven miles; its\nheight is four hundred and ninety feet. It is guarded by walls of sword trees.\n\nGood men, whose deeds of omission are balanced by the good they have done,\nreturn to life. Only souls judged to be evil see their village from this tower.\nThese can see their own families moving about, and can hear their conversation.\nThey realize how they disobeyed the teachings of their elders. They see that\nthe earthly goods for which they have struggled are of no value. Their\nplottings rise up with lurid reality. They see how they planned a new marriage\nalthough already married, how they appropriated fields, state property, and\nfalsified accounts, putting the blame on persons who were dead. While they\nobserve their village they behold their erstwhile friends touch their coffin\nand inwardly rejoice. They hear themselves called selfish and insincere. But\ntheir punishment does not stop here. They behold their children punished by\nmagistrates, their women afflicted with strange diseases, their daughters\nravished, their sons led astray, their property taken away, the ancestral house\nburned and their business ruined. From this tower all passes before them as a\nlurid dream and they are stricken in heart.\n\nAbout the fifth court are sixteen small hells where the soul is punished. In\neach one are stakes buried in the ground and fierce animals. The hands and feet\nof the guilty one are bound to a stake, his body is opened with small knives,\nand his heart and intestines quickly devoured.\n\nIn each of these sixteen hells is a certain type of sinner: (1) Those who do\nnot reverence the gods and demons and who doubt the existence of rewards and\npunishments; (2) those who hurt and kill living beings; (3) those who break\ntheir vows to do good; (4) those who resort to heterodox practices and vainly\nhope to attain eternal life; (5) those who upbraid good men, fear the wicked\nand hate men because they do not die speedily; (6) those who strive with other\npeople and then put the blame upon them; (7) men who force women; and women who\nseduce young men, and all who have libidinous desires; (8) those who gain\nprofit for themselves by injuring others; (9) the stingy and those who\nabsolutely disregard others, whether alive or dead, giving them no help in dire\nneed, when they can do so without injury to themselves; (10) those who steal\nand put the crime upon others; (11) those who requite favors with hate; (12)\nthose whose hearts are perverse and poisonous, who instigate others to do wrong\neven if they may not have carried out their suggestion; (13) those who tempt\nothers by deceit; (14) those who involve others in their squabbles and in\ngambling and then themselves win out; (15) those who stubbornly persist in\ntheir false ideas, do not repent, and slander others; (16) those who hate good\nand virtuous men.\n\nBesides these sixteen sorts of sinners the fifth court deals with other types\nof wicked people; those who do not believe in rewards and punishments after\ndeath, who hinder good causes, who burn incense without a sincere heart, speak\nof the sins of others, who burn books that urge men to be good and worship the\nGreat Dipper, but persist in eating meat; those who hate men; who repeat sutras\nand incantations, and take part in religious ceremonies, but do not fast\nbeforehand; who slander the Buddhist and Taoist religions; who know how to\nread, but refuse to read the ancient and modern exhortations regarding rewards\nand punishments; who dig into graves and destroy their marks, who purposely set\nfire to trees and underbrush, or are careless with fire in their own houses;\nwho shoot arrows at animals with the intent, to kill; who urge and tempt the\nsick and weak to enter into contests of any kind with themselves; who throw\ntiles and stones over neighboring walls, poison fish in the river, fire guns,\nor make nets or traps for birds; who sow salt on the ground, who do not bury\ndead eats and snakes very deep and thus cause death to those who dig; who cause\nmen to dig the frozen ground in winter or spring (the vapors of earth chill\nsuch diggers to death); who tear down adjoining walls and compel their\nneighbors to move the kitchen stove; who appropriate public highways, lands,\nclose wells and stop gutters.\n\nThose who have committed any of the above sins are taken, to the tower whence\nthey can see their own village and then are consigned to the great crying hell,\nR\u00e2urava, that is, the fourth of the Buddhist hot hells. [Footnote: Buddhism\ndistinguishes hot and cold hells. In a country like India severe cold is a\nserious torture.] Thence they go to their respective small hells. When their\ntime has expired, they are examined in order to see whether they have any other\nsins which need punishment.\n\nThose who have committed any of the above sins may not only escape punishment,\nbut may have their punishment in the sixth court lessened, if they fast\nregularly on the eighth day of the first month and take a vow not to commit\nthese sins. Some sins, however, cannot be arranged for in such a way, such as\nthe killing of living beings and hurting them; the associating with heretics;\ncommitting fornication with women and then poisoning them; committing adultery,\nviolence, envy, or injuring the good name of others; stealing, requiting favors\nwith hatred, and hearing exhortation but not repenting. These are major sins.\n\n_2. Its Social Value_\n\nThe social value of purgatory is quite plain from the description of the fifth\ncourt and of the sinners who are punished therein. Purgatory is the social\nmirror of China, wherein the consequences of all unsocial acts are pictured in\nsuch a vivid way as to deter the individual from committing them. It is\neffective in China, not only because of the realistic presentation, but because\nthe opinion of the community is against such acts and in favor of repressing\nthem on every occasion.\n\n_3. The Buddhist Heaven._\n\nBuddhism brought into China not only a fully developed purgatory but also a\nheaven which all may enter. The sovereign of the western heaven is Amit\u00e2bha (or\nin Chinese O-mi-to-fo), with whom Kuan Yin, the goddess of Mercy, is usually\nassociated. Amit\u00e2bha is explained as meaning \u201cboundless age.\u201d The original\nmeaning is \u201cboundless light,\u201d which suggests a Persian origin with Mannichean\ninfluences. The translations of the Amit\u00e2bha sutras were wholly made by natives\nof central Asia.\n\nAmit\u00e2bha is one of the thousand Buddhas; he is regarded as the reflex of\nSakyamuni and is connected also in his earthly incarnation with a monk called\nDharm\u00e2kara. This monk desired to become a Buddha. This wish he presented to\nL\u00f4k\u00eas\u2019varar\u00e2ja asking him to teach him as to what a Buddha and a Buddha country\nought to be. L\u00f4k\u00eas\u2019varar\u00e2ja imparted this knowledge. Then the monk after\nmeditation returned having made forty-eight vows that he would not become a\nBuddha, until all living beings should attain salvation in his heaven.\n\nThe eighteenth vow expresses his ideal:\n\n\u201cO Bhagavat, if those beings who have directed their thought towards the\nhighest perfect knowledge in other worlds, and who, after having heard my name,\nwhen I have obtained Bodhi (knowledge), have meditated on me with serene\nthoughts; if at the moment of their death, after having approached them\nsurrounded by an assembly of monks, I should not stand before them worshipped\nby them, that is, so that their thoughts should not be troubled, then may I not\nobtain the highest perfect knowledge.\u201d\n\nA few extracts from the _Amit\u00e2bha Vy\u00fbha S\u00fbtra_ will illustrate the\nBuddhist idea of life in this Pure Land:\n\n\u201cIn the western region beyond one hundred thousand myriads of Buddhist lands\nthere is a world. Great Happiness by name. This land has a Buddha called\nAmit\u00e2bha. The living beings there do not suffer any pain, but enjoy all\nhappiness. Therefore, it is called the land of Pure Delight \u2026 the land of Pure\nDelight has seven precious fountains full of water containing the eight\nvirtues. The bottom of these fountains is covered with golden sand. On four\nsides there are steps made of gold, silver, crystal and glass, precious stones,\nred pearls, and highly polished agates. In the pools are variously colored,\nlight emitting lotus flowers as large as cart wheels, delicate, admirable,\nodorous and pure\u2026\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Buddha of this land makes heavenly music. It is covered with gold. Morning\nand evening during six hours it rains the wonderful celestial flowers\n(Erythrina Indica). All the inhabitants of this land on clear mornings after\ndressing offer these celestial flowers to the hundred thousand myriads of\nBuddhas of the regions who return to their country at meal time. When they have\neaten they go away again.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis country possesses every kind of wonderful varicolored birds, the white\negret, the peacock, the parrot, the s\u2019rarika (a long legged bird), the\nKalavingka (a sweet voiced bird) \u2026 All these birds, morning and evening during\nthe six hours, utter forth a beautiful harmonious sound. Their song produces\nthe five _indrya_ (roots of faith, energy, memory, ecstatic meditation,\nwisdom), the five _bala_ (the powers of faith, energy, memory, meditation\nand wisdom), the seven _bodhyanga_ (the seven degrees of intelligence,\nmemory, discrimination, energy, tranquillity, ecstatic contemplation,\nindifference), and the eight portions of the correct path _marga,_ (the\npossession of correct views, decision and purity of thought and will, the\nability of reproducing any sound uttered in the universe, vow of poverty,\nasceticism, attainment of meditative abstraction of self-control, religious\nrecollectedness, honesty and virtue), and such doctrines. When all beings of\nthis land have heard the music, they declare their faithfulness to the Buddha,\nDharma and the Sangha (the Buddha, the Law and the community of monks).\u201d\n\nAs to those who enter this land it says:\n\n\u201cAll living beings who hear this should make a vow to be born in that land. How\ncan they reach the Pure Land? All very good men will gather in that place \u2026 He\nwhose blessedness and virtue are great can be born into that country. If there\nis a good man or woman who, on hearing of Amit\u00e2bha, takes this name and holds\nit in his mind one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven days, and his whole\nheart is not distracted, to that man at death Amit\u00e2bha will appear. His heart\nwill not be disturbed. He will at once enter into life in the land of Pure\nDelight of Amit\u00e2bha. I see this blessing and hence utter these words. Those\nliving beings who hear these words should make a vow to be born in that land.\u201d\n\n_4. The Harmonization of These Ideas with Ancestor Worship_\n\nThe extension of life beyond the grave in purgatory, or in the Pure Land and\nthrough transmigration was readily accepted in China. Both the new ideas and\nthe disciplines through which to realize them were eagerly adopted, and have\nheld their place to this day. In other lands the creation of a heaven and a\nhades has weakened the grip of ancestor worship and ultimately displaced it. In\nChina the opposite result has obtained, due, no doubt, to the fact that the\nfamily system and along with it the supreme duty of filial piety were fostered\nby the state and Buddhism and its teachings were permitted only in so far as\nthey bolstered it up. Another reason lies in the agricultural basis of China\u2019s\ncivilization, reenforced by the great difficulty of communication, which tended\nto make the family system dominant in China. Today, the improvement of\ncommunication and the introduction of the industrial system of the West with\nthe individual emphasis of modern education are factors which are weakening the\nfamily system and with it ancestral worship.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\nTHE SPIRITUAL VALUES EMPHASIZED BY BUDDHISM IN CHINA\n\n\nNear the House of Parliament in Peking is located a small monastery dedicated\nto the goddess of Mercy, Kuan Yin. Before her image the incense burners send\nforth curling clouds of smoke. The walls are decorated with old paintings of\ngods and goddesses. The temple with its courtyard has the appearance of\nprosperity. Its neat reception room, with its tables, chairs and clock, shows\nthe influence of the modern world.\n\nHere a monk in the prime of life spent a few months recently lecturing on\nBuddhism to members of parliament and to scholars from various parts of China.\nFrequently the writer used to drop in of an afternoon to discuss Buddhism and\nits outlook. Usually a simple repast concluded these conversations, the\nsubstance of which forms the greater part of this section.\n\n_1. The Threefold Classification of Men Under Buddhism_\n\n\u201cWhat does Buddhism do for men?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere are in the world at least three classes of men. The lowest class live\namong material things, they are occupied with possessions. Their life is\nentangled in the crude and coarse materials which they regard as real. A\nsecond, higher class, regard ideas as realities. They are not entangled in the\nmaze of things, but are confused by ideas, ascribing reality to them. The third\nand highest class are those who by meditation have freed themselves from the\nthraldom of ideas and can enter the sixteen heavens.\u201d\n\n_2. Salvation for the Common Man_\n\n\u201cWhat can Buddhism do for the lowest class?\u201d\n\n\u201cFor this class Buddhism has the ten prohibitions. Every man has in him ten\nevils, which must be driven out. Three have to do with evil in the body,\nnamely, not to steal, not to kill, not to commit adultery; four belong to the\nmouth, lying, exaggeration, abuse, and ambiguous talk; three belong to the\nmind, covetousness, malice, and unbelief.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs not this entirely negative?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, but it is necessary, for during the process of eliminating these evil\ndeeds, man acquires patience and equanimity. Buddhism does not stop with the\nprohibitions. The believer must practice the ten charitable deeds. Not only\nmust he remove the desire to kill living beings, but he must cultivate the\ndesire to save all beings. Not only must he not steal, but he must assist men\nwith his money. Not only must he not give himself to lasciviousness, but he\nmust treat all men with propriety. So each prohibition involves a positive\nimpulse to virtue, which is quite as essential as the refraining from evil.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat energizing power does Buddhism provide?\u201d\n\n\u201cFirst, is purgatory with its terrors. The evil man, seeing the consequences of\nhis acts upon himself, becomes afraid to do them and does that which is good.\nThen there is transmigration with the danger of transmigration into beasts and\ninsects. Again, there are the rewards in the paradise of Amit\u00e2bha. Moreover,\nthere is even the possibility not only of saving one\u2019s self, but by accumulated\nmerit of saving one\u2019s parents and relatives and shortening their stay in\npurgatory.\u201d\n\n_3. The Place of Faith_\n\n\u201cCan any man enter the western paradise of Amit\u00e2bha?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, it is open to all men. The sutra says: \u2018If there be any one who commits\nevil deeds, and even completes the ten evil actions, the five deadly sins and\nthe like; that man, being himself stupid and guilty of many crimes, deserves to\nfall into a miserable path of existence and suffer endless pains during many\nlong ages. On the eve of death he may meet a good and learned teacher who,\nsoothing and encouraging him in various ways, will preach to him the excellent\nLaw and teach him the remembrance of Buddha, but being harassed by pains\u2019, he\nwill have no time to think of Buddha.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat hope has such a man?\u201d\n\n\u201cEven such a man has hope. The sutra says: \u2018Some good friend will say to him:\nEven if thou canst not exercise the remembrance of Buddha, utter the name of\nBuddha Amitabha.\u2019 Let him do so serenely with his voice uninterrupted; let him\nbe (continually) thinking of Buddha, until he has completed ten times the\nthought, repeating \u2018Namah O-mi-to-fo,\u2019 I put my trust in Buddha! On the\nstrength of (his merit of) uttering Buddha\u2019s name he will, during every\nrepetition expiate the sins which involve him in births and deaths during\neighty millions of long ages. He will, while dying, see a golden lotus-flower,\nlike the disk of the sun, appearing before his eyes; in a moment he will be\nborn in the world of highest happiness. After twelve greater ages the\nlotus-flower will unfold; thereupon the Bodhisattvas, Aval\u00f4kit\u00ebsvaras and\nMahasattva\u2019s, raising their voices in great compassion, will preach to him in\ndetail the real state of all the elements of nature and the law of the\nexpiation of sins.\u201d\n\n\u201cDoes faith save such a man?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, not his own faith, but the faith which prompted the vow of Amitabha.\nAmit\u00e2bha\u2019s faith in the possibility of his salvation gives him supreme\nconfidence that he will attain salvation. All he needs is to have the desire to\nbe born in that paradise and to repeat the name of Amitabha.\u201d\n\n_4. Salvation of the Second Class_\n\n\u201cHow do those of the second class attain salvation?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe men of the second class regard ideas as realities. They are not entangled\nin the maze of things, but are confused by ideas, regarding them as real. These\nmen do not need images and outward sanctions, but they need heaven and\npurgatory though regarding them as ideas. By performing the ten good deeds they\nwill obtain a quiet heart, having no fear, and become saints and sages. Among\nmen, saints and sages occupy a high rank, but not so among Buddhists. By merit\nof good works merely they enter the planes of sensuous desire, the six\ncelestial worlds located immediately above the earth.\u201d\n\n_5. Salvation for the Highest Class_\n\n\u201cAnd the third class?\u201d\n\n\u201cThis class has many ranks. There are those who by the practice of meditation\n(four _dkyanas_) [Footnote: Dhyana means contemplation. In later times\nunder the influence of the idea of transmigration heavens were imagined which\ncorresponded to the degrees of contemplation.] can enter the sixteen heavens\nconditioned by form. By the practice of the four _ar\u00fbpa-dhy\u00e2nas_\n[Footnote: That degree of abstract contemplation from which all sensations are\nabsent.] they enter the four highest heavens free from all sensuous desires and\nnot conditioned by form. These heavens are the anteroom of Nirvana.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is the driving power in all this?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is _v\u00eerya_ or energy.\u201d\n\n_6. Heaven and Purgatory_\n\n\u201cDo heaven and purgatory exist?\u201d\n\n\u201cHeaven and purgatory are in the minds and hearts of men. Really heaven is in\nthe mind of Amit\u00e2bha and purgatory exists in the illusioned brains of men.\u201d\n\n\u201cDoes anything exist?\u201d\n\n\u201cN\u00e2g\u00e2rjuna says: \u2018There is no production, no destruction, no annihilation, no\npersistence, no unity, no plurality, no coming in and no going forth.\u2019\u201d\n\n_7. Sin_\n\n\u201cDoes sin exist?\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the mind of the real Buddhist sin and virtue are different aspects of the\nall. Sin is illusion; virtue is illusion, There is a higher unity in which they\nare reconciled.\u201d\n\n_8. Nirv\u00e2na_\n\n_\u201cDo you know of any one who attained Nirv\u00e2na?\u201d_\n\n\u201cYes, I have experienced it. It is not a state beyond the grave. It is a state\ninto which one can enter here.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan you express this experience in words?\u201d\n\n\u201cImpossible. I can only indicate the shore of this great ocean. At first I was\nin great distress and agony, as though carrying the illusions of the world.\nThen came a great peace and calm, ineffable, serene, and surpassing the power\nof language to express.\u201d\n\n_9. The Philosophical Background_\n\n\u201cWhat is behind this universe!\u201d\n\n\u201cUnderlying this universe of phenomena and change there is a unity. It is the\nbasis of all being. It is within all being and all being rests in it. It is\nbecause of this common background that men are able to apprehend it. This\nuniversal basis we call _dharma,_ or law. Its characteristics are that\neverything born grows old, is subject to disease and death; that the teachings\nof Buddha purify the mind and enable it to obtain supreme enlightenment; that\nall Buddhas by treading the same way of perfection will attain the highest\nfreedom.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou speak of the Buddhist Trinity.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, we have the Dharmak\u00e2ya. This is the essence-body, the ground of all\nbeing, taking many forms, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, spirits, angels, men and even\ndemons. It is impersonal, all-pervasive. It may be called the first person. The\nsecond person is the Sambhogak\u00e2ya, the body of bliss. This is the heavenly\nmanifestation of Buddha. The third person is the Nirm\u00e2nak\u00e2ya. This is the\nprojection of the body of bliss on earth.\u201d\n\nSome identify this trinity with that of the Christian faith. While there is a\nresemblance, we should note that the first person of the Buddhist trinity would\ncorrespond to God as the absolute or the impersonal background of universal\nBeing. The second corresponds to the glorified Christ and the third to the\nhistoric Jesus. There is no counterpart either to God the Father or to the Holy\nSpirit.\n\n\u201cDo you believe in the salvation of all beings?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, all have the Buddha heart. All living beings will finally become\nBuddhas.\u201d\n\nThen turning to a friend of mine the speaker said: \u201cWhat have you done in\nBuddhism?\u201d The friend answered: \u201cI have written and translated many books.\u201d \u201cI\ndo not mean that,\u201d he answered. \u201cWhat _work_ have you done?\u201d The friend\nconfessed that he had not done much else. Then he said: \u201cEvery morning when you\nawake, reflect deeply and profoundly upon your state before you were born.\nThink back to that state where your soul was merged with Buddha. Find yourself\nin that state and you will find ineffable enlightenment and joy.\u201d\n\nThe sun was setting behind the Western hills. The blare of trumpets sounded on\nthe city wall. Outside of the door was the whirling sound of Peking returning\nhome from its mundane tasks and joys. We joined the rushing, restless crowd and\nstill we felt the calm of another world. Has not Christianity a message of balm\nand peace for these sons of the East who are so sensitive to the touch of the\neternal and sublime?\n\n_10. What Buddhism Has to Give_\n\nAn important government official obliged to deal with many vexatious requests\nand demands declared: \u201cI could not get through my day\u2019s work, if I did not\nspend an hour every day in meditation, just as Buddha did when he became\nenlightened.\u201d He was asked what he did when he meditated or prayed. \u201cNothing at\nall.\u201d \u201cWell, about what do you think?\u201d \u201cOf nothing at all. I stop thinking when\nI engage in religious meditation. Life makes me think too much. I should lose\nmy sanity, if I did not stop thinking and enter into the \u2018void\u2019, whence we all\ncame and into which we all are going to drop back.\u201d\n\nHis Christian inquirer still was unsatisfied by the Buddhist\u2019s description of\nhis prayer life, and pressed further for details. \u201cWhat happens when you\nmeditate or pray?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing happens, I tell you, except, that I experience a peace which the\npassing world cannot give and which the passing world cannot altogether take\naway. The secret of religion is simply to realize that everything is passing\naway. When you accept that fact, then you become really free. The Christian\nworld seemed to have been tremendously impressed by the slogan of the French\nsoldiers at Verdun, \u2018They shall not pass!\u2019 Perhaps the German soldiers did not\npass just then or there. But the French soldiers themselves are all passing\naway. And everything in the world is passing away. What our Buddhist religion\nteaches us is: \u2018Let it pass!\u2019 You cannot keep anything for very long. And\nprayer or meditation is simply to practice yourself in that thought\ndeliberately. Oh, it is a wonderful peace when you fully believe that gospel,\nand enter into it every day. Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity! Why\nworry? We do altogether too much worrying. To pray means simply to quit\nworrying, to quit thinking, to enter into the indescribably passionless peace\nof Nirvana.\u201d\n\nHere seemed to be an ardent Buddhist. When asked what he thought as the\ndifference between a Buddhist and a Christian, he answered promptly:\n\n\u201cYes, there is my wife. She is a very good woman. All the neighbors come to\nher, when there is any one sick or in trouble. So I say to her: \u2018Wife, I should\nthink you would make a first-class Christian.\u2019 But I think she lets herself be\nworried by altogether too many troubles. She is all the time thinking and\nfussing and planning. To be sure, it is mostly about other people, But then she\ndoes have the children and the house and the relatives and friends and\nneighbors to look after. Perhaps she really cannot be a Buddhist. Perhaps it is\nall a matter of temperament. Oh, but I tell you it is great to be a Buddhist,\nbecause it gives you such a wonderful peace.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nIX\nPRESENT-DAY BUDDHISM:\n\n\n_1. Periods of Buddhist History_\n\nThe history of Buddhism in China may be divided into four periods. Buddhism\nentered China, as we have seen, in the second century B.C. The first period,\nthat of the translation and propagation of the faith, ended in 420 A.D. The\nsecond period, that of interpenetration, lasted to the beginning of the T\u2019ang\ndynasty, 618 A.D. The third, the period of establishment, ended with the close\nof the five dynasties, in 960 A.D. The fourth period, that of decay, has\nextended to the present day.\n\n_2. The Progress of the Last Twenty-five Years_\n\nThere are signs of a revival of Buddhism in China. Whether this is a tide, or a\nwave, only the future can reveal. In 1893 Dharmapala, an Indian monk, stopped\nin Shanghai on his way back from the Congress of Religions in Chicago. It was\nhis purpose to make a tour of China, to arouse the Chinese Buddhists to send\nmissionaries to India to restore Buddhism there, and then to start a propaganda\nthroughout the whole world. He addressed the monks of Shanghai. Dr. Edkins, the\nveteran missionary, acted as his interpreter. Dharmapala was surrounded by a\nhorde of curious monks who were more interested in his strange appearance and\nin the cost of his garments than they were in his great ideals. They were also\nfeeling the iron heel of the Confucian government and at once inquired about\nthe attitude of the government toward such an innovation. Dharmapala did not go\nbeyond Shanghai.\n\nJapanese Buddhists, especially the members of the Hongwanji sect, have taken a\ndeep interest in Chinese Buddhists. Count Otani once visited the chief\nmonasteries of China. Numerous Japanese Buddhists have made such visits. In\n1902, the Empress Dowager, fired by a reforming zeal, decided to confiscate\nBuddhist property and to use the proceeds for the spread of modern education.\nThe Buddhist monasteries put themselves under the protection of Japanese monks\nin order to hold their property. When by 1906 the Empress Dowager saw the\nconsequences of her edict, she at once issued a new edict, reversing the former\none, and the Japanese monks took their departure.\n\nThe Japanese Buddhists have been fired by missionary zeal for China. In many of\nthe large cities of China are the temples of the Hongwanji sect. Established\nprimarily for the Japanese, these temples are intended to serve as points of\ndeparture for a nation-wide missionary work. The twenty-one demands made upon\nChina included two significant items in the last group which the Chinese\nrefused to sign: \u201cArt. 2: Japanese hospitals, churches and schools in the\ninterior of China shall be granted the right of owning land.\u201d \u201cArt. 7: China\nagrees that Japanese subjects shall have the right of missionary propaganda in\nChina.\u201d\n\nUnder Japanese influence there was established in 1907 at Nanking, under the\nleadership of Yang, a lay Buddhist devotee, a school for the training of\nBuddhist missionaries. The students were to go to Japan for further training,\nand the more promising ones were to study in India. This project was\ndiscontinued after the death of Yang on account of the lack of funds.\n\nWhen the republic was established Buddhism felt a wave of reform. The\nmonasteries established schools for monks and children. A magazine was\npublished which appeared irregularly for several numbers and then stopped. A\nnational organization was formed with headquarters at Peking. A survey of\nmonasteries was begun. The activities in lecturing and propaganda were\nincreased, but Yuan Shih-kai issued twenty-seven regulations for the control of\nBuddhist monasteries, which markedly dampened the ardor of the reformers.\n\nThe world war which accentuated the spirit of nationalism had the added effect\nof stirring up Buddhist enthusiasm. There are at present signs of new activity\namong them in China.\n\n_3. Present Activities_\n\nWhile Buddhism may be standing still or even dying in certain parts of China,\nit is showing signs of new life in the provinces of Kiangsu and Chekiang and in\nthe large cities. Such revival in centers subject to the influence of the\nmodern world shows that Buddhism in China as in Japan has sufficient vitality\nto adjust itself to modern conditions. Let us consider some of these\nactivities.\n\n_(a) The Reconstruction of Monasteries._\u2014During the T\u2019ai Ping rebellion,\nwhich devastated China in 1850-1865, the monasteries suffered with the towns.\nNot only were the monasteries burned to the ground, but their means of support\nwere taken away and the monks were scattered. There are still many of these\nruined monasteries in the Yangtze valley and in southern and western China.\nQuite a number of them have been rebuilt. Perhaps the most notable example is\nthat at Changchow which was destroyed during the rebellion. Today it is the\nlargest monastery in China, having about two thousand monks. In Fukien several\nnew monasteries have been built in the last few decades. In the provinces of\nChekiang and Kiangsu, in the large cities and about Peking there are building\nactivities, showing that the monasteries are feeling a new wave of prosperity.\n\nT\u2019ai Hsu, one of the leaders\u2019 of modern Buddhism, is holding up an ideal\nprogram for Buddhism in this time of reconstruction. He proposes that there\nshould be 576 central monasteries, 4608 preaching places, 72 Buddhist hospitals\nand 72 orphanages.\n\n_(b) Accessions._\u2014Regarding the number of monks it is almost impossible to\nobtain any reliable figures. A conservative estimate, based upon partial\nreturns, makes the number of monks about 400,000 and that of nuns about 10,000.\nThe impression among the Buddhists is that the number of monks is increasing.\nThat is quite probable in view of the rebuilding and repairing which is now in\nprogress.\n\nMore significant is the number of accessions from the learned class. Many\nofficials, disheartened by the present confused political situation, have\nsought refuge in the monasteries. Some of them are now abbots of monasteries\nand are using their influence to build them up. All over China there are\nConfucian scholars who are giving themselves to the study of Buddhism and to\nmeditation. Some of the Chinese students who have studied in Buddhist\nuniversities in Japan are propagating Buddhism by lecture and pen.\n\n_(c) Publications._\u2014Quite as significant is the increase in the\npublication of Buddhist literature of all kinds. Many of the monasteries have\nprinting departments where they publish the sutras needed for their own use. In\naddition, there are eight or more publishing centers where Buddhist literature\nis printed. The most famous are Yang\u2019s establishment at Nanking, the Buddhist\nPress in Yangchow and that in Peking. In these establishments about nine\nhundred different works are being published. The most noteworthy recent\npublication has been that of the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka in Shanghai.\n\nAmong these publications are a few modern issues. The Chung Hua Book Company\nhas published several works on Buddhism. Other books have been issued for the\nsake of harmonizing Buddhism with western science and philosophy. In this\nenterprise Japanese influence is visible. In 1921 a Shanghai press published a\ndictionary of Buddhist terms containing 3302 pages, based on the Japanese\nDictionary of Buddhism. Other works also show the influence of Japanese\nscholarship.\n\nAmong the publications have appeared two magazines. One published at Ningpo, is\ncalled \u201cNew Buddhism.\u201d This is struggling and may have to succumb. The other is\nknown as the \u201cSound of the Sea Tide,\u201d now published in Hankow. Moreover, in all\nthe large cities there are Buddhist bookshops where only Buddhist works are\nsold. These all report a good business. This literary activity reveals an\ninterest among the reading classes of China. Few such books are purchased by\nthe monks. The Chinese scholars read them for their style and for their deep\nphilosophy, but also for light and for help in the present distracting\npolitical situation of their country.\n\n_(d) Lectures._\u2014Along with publication goes the spread of Buddhism by\nlectures in the monasteries and the cities of China. A few years ago Buddhist\nsermons, however serious, were only listened to by monks and by a few pious\ndevotees. Today such addresses are advertised and are usually well attended by\nthe intellectuals. Often many women are found listening. Monks like T\u2019ai Hs\u00fc\nand Yuan Ying have a national reputation. Not only monks, but laymen trained in\nJapan are delivering lectures on the Buddhist sutras. The favorites are the\nAwakening of Faith and the Suddharma Pundarika sutra.\n\n_(e) Buddhist Societies._\u2014With the lectures goes the organization of\nBuddhist societies for all sorts of purposes. There is a central society in\nPeking which has branches in every province. The connection is rather loose.\nBuddhism has never been in favor of centralization. Nor for that matter would\nthe government have allowed it. The chief ends aimed at by these societies are\nfellowship, devotion, study, propagation, and service. Such societies, often\nshort lived, are springing up in many quarters. They meet for lectures on\nBuddhism or to conduct a study class in some of the sutras. Occasionally the\nmore ambitious conduct an institute for several months. Some spend part of the\ntime in meditation together. Several schools for children are supported by\nthese societies. They also encourage work of a religious nature among\nprisoners, distributing tracts and holding services. Such activities are\nespecially appreciated by those who are to suffer the death penalty. The\nsocieties are also doing publishing work. The two magazines are supported by\nthe members of the larger societies.\n\n_(f) Signs of Social Ambition._\u2014Social work is a prominent feature of some\nof these Buddhist societies. They have raised money for famine stricken\nregions, have opened orphanages, and assist in Red Cross work. One of the\nlargest Chinese institutions for ministering to people who are sick and in\ntrouble is located at Hankow. Around a central Buddhist temple is a\nmodern-built hospital, an orphanage and several schools for poor children. It\nmay not maintain western standards of efficiency, but it certainly represents\nthe outreach of modern Buddhism.\n\nPerhaps their most far-reaching advance has been made because of the\nrealization that leaders are needed and that they must be trained. Several\nschools for this purpose have sprung into existence. Such schools are\nnecessarily very primitive and are struggling with the difficulties of finding\nan adequate staff and equipment and of obtaining the best type of students.\n\nAnother sign of new life has been the making of programs for the future\ndevelopment of Buddhism. One of the most comprehensive appeared a short time\nago. For the individual it proposes the cultivation of love, mercy, equality,\nfreedom, progressiveness, an established faith, patience and endurance. For all\nmen it proposes (1) an education according to capacity; (2) a trade suited to\nability; (3) an opportunity to develop one\u2019s powers; (4) a chance for\nenlightenment for all. For society it urges the cultivation of cooperation,\nsocial service, sacrifice for the social weal, and the social consciousness in\nthe individual. On behalf of the country it urges patriotism, participation in\nthe government, and cooperation in international movements. For the world it\nadvocates universal progress. As to the universe it specifies as a goal the\nbringing of men into harmony with spiritual realities, the enlightenment of all\nand the realization of the spiritual universe.\n\nA Buddhist writer sums up the aims of new Buddhism as follows:\n\n\u201cFormerly Buddhism desired to escape the sinful world. Today Buddhism not only\ndesires to escape this world of sin, but longs to transform this world of sin\ninto a new world dominated by the ideals of Buddhism. Formerly Buddhism was\noccupied with erecting and perfecting its doctrines and polity as an\norganization. Today it not only hopes to perfect the doctrines and polity, but\ndesires to spread the doctrines and ideals abroad so as to help mankind to\nbecome truly cultured.\u201d\n\n_4. The Attitude of Tibetan Lamas_\n\nNot only the Chinese Buddhists, but the Lamas of Mongolia and Tibet are feeling\nthe impulses of the new age. Quite recently an exhibition was held in the Lama\ntemple at Peking which attracted thousands of visitors. Its object was to\nobtain money to repair the temple, and thus to give its work a fresh impulse.\nThat these impulses are not necessarily hostile to Christianity is shown by a\nletter written by the Kurung Tsering Lama of Kokonor district to the Rev. T.\nS\u00f6rensen of Szechuan:\n\n\u201cI, your humble servant, have seen several copies of the Scriptures and, having\nread them carefully, they certainly made me believe in Christ. I understand a\nlittle of the outstanding principles and the doctrinal teaching of the One Son,\nbut as to the Holy Spirit\u2019s nature and essence, and as to the origin of this\nreligion, I am not at all clear, and it is therefore important that the\ndoctrinal principles of this religion should be fully explained, so as to\nenlighten the unintelligent and people of small mental ability.\n\n\u201cThe teaching of the science of medicine and astrology is also very important.\nIt is therefore evident if we want this blessing openly manifested, we must\nbelieve in the religion of the only Son of God. Being in earnest, I therefore\npray you from my heart not to consider this letter lightly. With a hundred\nsalutations.\u201d\n\nEnclosed with this letter was a poem written in most elegant language.\n\n\u201cO thou Supreme God and most precious Father, The truth above all religions,\nThe Ruler of all animate and inanimate worlds! Greater than wisdom, separated\nfrom birth and death, Is his son Christ the Lord shining in glory among endless\nbeings. Incomprehensible wonder, miraculously made! In this teaching I myself\nalso believe\u2014As your spirit is with heaven united, My soul undivided is seeking\nthe truth Jesus the Savior\u2019s desire fulfilling, For the coming of the Kingdom\nof Heaven I am praying. Happiness to all.\u201d\n\n_5. The Buddhist World Versus the Christian World_\n\nLooking back over the last twenty-five years we see rising quite distinctly a\nBuddhist world growing conscious of itself, of its past history and of its\nmission to the world. This Buddhist, world has much more of a program than it\nhad twenty-five years ago. Its object is to unite the Mahay\u00e2na and the H\u00eenay\u00e2na\nbranches of Buddhism and to spread Buddhist propaganda over the world. At\npresent the leadership of this movement is in Japan. It is in part a political\nmovement. There is no question that Christianity is not at all pleasing to the\nJapanese militarists. It is regarded by them as the advance post of western\nindustrialism and political ambition. Quite naturally such leaders desire to\nmake the Buddhist world a unit. It is also a social movement. The spirit of the\nJapanese Buddhist has been brought to consciousness by the new position of\nJapan. Japan is seeking to take its place in the world as a first rate power.\nBy this not only will Japan\u2019s industry and commerce profit, but its spiritual\nvalues must also be adapted to the world. The movement then has its spiritual\nside. Japanese travelers and people are going to all parts of the world. They\ncarry with them the religious ideals which have been shaped by Buddhism.\nBuddhism in the past was one of the great religions of salvation with an\ninspiring missionary message. It is again awakening to this task of\nevangelization. Under the leadership of Japanese scholars and religious\nstatesmen the Japanese are seeking to unite the Buddhist world so that it shall\nbecome a force in the new world. Japan is thus trying to give back what it has\nreceived in the past.\n\nAt present in Buddhist countries there is a strong force working against this\nmovement. Nationalism is a new force to be reckoned with. Still even with the\nspirit of nationalism permeating every group, the Buddhist world is getting\ntogether and will strive to make its contribution to the life of the whole\nworld.\n\n\n\n\nX\nTHE CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO BUDDHISTS\n\n\n_1. Questions Which Buddhists Ask_\n\nBuddhists are approaching Christianity. In many places a spirit of inquiry and\ninterest in the Christian religion is met. It is not necessary that there\nshould be a Buddhist world permanently over against a Christian world. The\nquestions which Buddhists ask a missionary indicate an interest in vital\nthemes. Some of them are as follows:\n\nWe put our trust in the three Precious Ones. In what do you trust? Is not your\nShang Ti (name for God used in China) a being lower than Buddha and just a\nlittle higher than a Bodhisattva? Is not Shang Ti the tribal god of the Jews?\nDo you believe in the existence of _purgatory?_ What sufferings will those\nendure who do not live a virtuous life? Do you believe in the reality of the\nWestern Paradise? How can one enter it? There being three kinds of merit, by\nwhat method is the great merit accumulated? How is the middle and the small\nmerit accumulated? What are the fruits of these proportions of merit and what\nare they like? Tell me how to believe Christ. What work of meditation do you\nperform? Is not Buddhism more democratic than Christianity, because it holds\nout the possibility of Buddhahood to all beings? Is not Buddhism more\ninclusive, because it provides for the salvation of all beings?\n\n_2. Knowledge and Sympathy_\n\nThese questions make it plain that the worker who is to deal with Buddhists\nshould have a broad background of general culture. He must be thoroughly\nhumanized. He should have a good knowledge of the history of philosophy and\nreligion, including the work of the modern philosophers. A knowledge of the\nlife of Buddha and of the doctrines of the H\u00eenay\u00e2na or Southern Buddhism, as\nwell as the tenets of the Mahay\u00e2na should be in his possession. The psychology\nof religion should interpenetrate his historical learning; the best methods of\npedagogy should guide his approach to men. Of course he must speak the language\nof the Buddhist, not only the spiritual language, but his everyday patois. He\nwill find it an advantage to know some Sanskrit. While this requirement is not\nvery urgent at present, it will rapidly become a necessity for doing the best\nwork.\n\nThis knowledge should be interpenetrated by a genuine sympathy, that is,\nimagination tinged with emotion. The worker should be able to view doctrines,\nvalues and actions from the point of view of the Buddhist and his past history.\nHe must have a genuine interest in and a great capacity for friendship. The\nBuddhists are very human, responding to friendship very quickly. Such\nfriendship forms a link between the man and the larger friendship of Christ.\n\n_3. Emphasis on the Aesthetic in Christianity_\n\nA Chinese Christian leader described his idea of a church as a place removed\nfrom the din of the street, approached by a walk flanked with trees and flowers\nand adorned within by symbols speaking to the heart of the Chinese. He longed\nfor the mystic silence and the beauty of holiness which would open the windows\nof the world of spiritual reality and throw its light upon the problems of\nlife. He was asked, \u201cWould you adapt some of the symbols of the Chinese\nreligions?\u201d He said, \u201cMany of those symbols are neutral. They suggest religious\nemotion. Their character depends upon the content which the occasion puts into\nthem. If the content is Christian then the symbols and emotions will become\nChristian.\u201d\n\nChristianity is a religion of beauty. The beautiful in architecture, symbol and\nritual, expressing the spiritual universe of the past, present and future,\nmakes a strong appeal to the Chinese heart. It may well be emphasized in the\nfuture as never before.\n\n_4. Emphasis on the Mystical in Christianity_\n\nNot long ago a Buddhist in one of the large cities of China was converted. He\nfound great joy in the experience which revived him and gathered into unity the\nbroken fragments of his life. He attended church regularly and participated in\nthe prayer meetings. Gradually he discovered that he was not being nourished.\nHe felt his joy slipping away from him and his divided life reinstating itself.\nHe went to Buddhism for consolation. He is not hostile to the church. He\nappreciates the help he received, but he said that he came for consolation and\npeace and found the same\u2014hard orthodoxy and morality so familiar to him in\nConfucianism.\n\nWhile the case of this man may have individual peculiarities, it may be made\nthe starting point for a discussion of the situation in many churches in China.\nThe early message to the Chinese was doctrinal. The false notion of many gods\nhad to be displaced by the idea of the one true God. With this idea of the true\nGod a few other tenets of the Christian religion are often held as dogmatic\npropositions to be repeated when questions are asked. The great sin preached is\nthe worship of idols.\n\nThe second part of the Christian message is salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.\nThis salvation is other-worldly to a large extent. The extreme emphasis upon it\nhas made of the church an insurance society, membership in which insures bliss\nin the world beyond.\n\nThe third part of the message has been concerned with moral acts, abstinence\nfrom opium (liquor and tobacco in some churches), polygamy, and the gross sins.\nAttendance upon church services, contribution for the support of the church,\nand the refusal to contribute to idolatry have also been required.\n\nThe emphasis to a large extent was doctrinal, moral and individual. The result\nhas been a body of people free from the gross sins, but also innocent of the\ngreat virtues and individualistic in their outlook upon this world and the\nnext. This emphasis is needed, but in addition there should be the cultivation\nof the presence of God in the soul by appropriate means. The Christian Church\nof China should develop a technique of the spiritual life suited to the East.\nThe formation of habits of devotion should be emphasized. Intercessory prayer\nshould be given a larger place. Contemplation and meditation should be regarded\nnot merely as an escape from the turmoil and strife of the world, but as a\npreparation for the highest life of service and sacrifice. Buddhist mysticism\nunited the whole universe and was the great foundation of Chinese art,\nliterature and morality. The spiritual world of Christianity must likewise seep\nthrough into the very thought of Asia and inspire the new art, literature and\nmorality which will be the world expression of a Christian universe.\n\n_5. Emphasis on the Social Elements in Christianity_\n\nTo the aesthetic and mystical emphasis must be attached a social emphasis.\nBuddhism is often criticized as not being social. It is a highly socialized\nreligion. It has had a large influence upon social life in the East. This\nsocial life is different from ours. We see its wrongs and weaknesses. Likewise\ndo the Buddhists see the materialism and injustice of our social life.\nChristianity must relate itself to the modern world as it is rising in China\nand seek not merely to remedy a few wrongs or heal a few diseases, but must\nrelease the healing stream into the social life of the East. This will be done\nand is being done through the Church community which has become conscious of\nitself, realizing its needs and wants, seeking in an intelligent and systematic\nway to rehabilitate itself. It is not so much the external unrelated efforts\nthat accomplish the thing needed, but it is rather the community life stirred\nby ideals and fired by a new dynamic which begins the work of reformation.\n\n_6. Emphasis on the Person of Jesus Christ_\n\n_(a) As a Historical Character._\u2014The great asset of the missionary among\nBuddhists is the historical person of Christ. In contrast to many of the\nBodhisattvas, the saviours of the Buddhists, Jesus is a historical character.\nHis life among men was the life of God among men.\n\n_(b) As the Revealer._\u2014God is like Christ. Christ reveals God as the\ncomplete, the perfect person. He possessed the pure spiritual personality. The\nchief characteristic of this personality is love. This love conscious of itself\nfinds its highest joy in the well-being of others. This love of God produced\nhuman life which, springing from the lowest form, broke through the material\nelements and is capable of attaining the highest development.\n\nChrist reveals to man his heavenly relationship. Man created in the likeness of\nGod stands in the highest relation of one person to another through love. He\nlikens this relation to that of father and son. He lifts man to the fellowship\nwith the divine. Yet such a fellowship that man preserves his personality.\n\nChrist reveals man in his relation to men as a brother and the form of love\nwhich shall control the relation of man to God as well as man to man.\n\nChrist revealed and founded the Kingdom, a society of the saved, dominated by\nthe spirit of the founder and making this spirit of love and service the\norganizing power in the world.\n\n_(c) As the Saviour._\u2014Mahay\u00e2na Buddhism emphasized saviourhood. Christ is\nthe saviour of men. In Buddhism the stress is placed upon the merit of the\nsaviour and the saved. There is no question that merit has some value. Yet\nChrist does not save us by merit, nor do we help to save one another by merit.\nSalvation is a moral and spiritual process. It is concerned with the biology of\nthe soul. The salvation that we preach is not the salvation by knowledge, or\nmeditation, or merit, but by the interpenetration of Christ\u2019s spirit in ours,\nby the mystic and moral union of our life with his. As Paul says: \u201cThat I may\nknow Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His\nsuffering.\u201d Yet He is not the saviour of the individual alone. He saves the\ncommunity, the church. Only as His spirit permeates and dominates the community\ndoes he find his true self and the real salvation.\n\n_(d) As the Eternal Son, of God._\u2014The Mahay\u00e2na system does not emphasize\nthe historicity of Amitabha or of the Bodhisattvas. Spiritual truth is the\ndevelopment of the soul. It is not limited by time and place. Likewise\nChristianity must emphasize the eternal character of Jesus Christ. \u201cThe Logos\nexisted in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was God.\u201d To\nthe Mah\u00e2y\u00e2nist this spiritual history is more real than any fact conditioned by\ntime and place.\n\nThe Christian worker must learn to understand the import of the Gospel of John.\nHe must see in Jesus Christ \u201cThe real Light, which enlightens every man.\u201d He\nmust be able to convince himself that the Christ is the fulfillment of the\nhighest aspirations of the Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na system.\n\n_7. How Christianity Expresses Itself in Buddhist Minds_\n\nIn 1920 a number of Buddhist monks, under the leadership of Rev. K. L. Reichelt\nformed a Christian brotherhood. The members of this small brotherhood decided\nthat they must subscribe to vows and they took the four following:\n\n\u201cI promise before the Almighty and Omniscient God, that I with my whole heart\nwill surrender myself to the true Trinity, God the Father, the Son and the Holy\nSpirit. I will with my whole heart have faith in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of\nthe world who gives completion to the profoundest and best objects of the\nhigher Buddhism. I will live in this faith now and ever after.\n\n\u201cI promise solemnly before God with my whole heart to devote myself to the\nstudy of the true doctrine and break wholly with the evil manners of the world\nand show forth in my public and private life that I am truly united with\nChrist.\n\n\u201cI promise that I in every respect will try so to educate myself that I can be\nof use in the work of God on earth. I will with undivided heart devote myself\nto the great work; to lead my brethren in the Buddhist Association forward to\nthe understanding of Christ as the only One, who gives completion to the\nhighest and profoundest ideas of Higher Buddhism.\n\n\u201cI promise that until my last hour I will work so that out of our Christian\nBrotherhood there may grow forth a strong church of Christ among Buddhists. I\nwill not permit any evil thing to grow in my heart, which could divide the\nbrotherhood, but will always try to promote the progress of every member in the\nknowledge of the holy obligations laid down in these vows and our\nconstitution.\u201d\n\nSuch men ought, to make choice Christians.\n\n_8. Christianity\u2019s Constructive Values_\n\nBuddhism in the course of its long history developed certain religious ideas\nand values which we find in Christianity. It faced the fact of sin and placed\nit in the heart. It diagnosed the fundamental instincts of men, sex-appetite,\nwill-to-achieve, and pugnacity. These must be overcome. It regards them as\ndelusions which must be eliminated. Christianity also deals with these\ninstincts. It is under no delusion as to their strength. There are certain\ntendencies in Christianity which have tried to annihilate them. The central\ntendency of Christianity, however, recognizing their power for good, seeks to\nsublimate them and make them serve the individual and society. This attitude of\nthe two religions toward these instincts is fundamentally different. The\nattitude of Christianity has been justified even in Buddhist lands where the\nreligious life of the people has followed the same line that Christianity\nadvocates.\n\nEarly Buddhism tried to dissolve man\u2019s personality. Later Buddhism corrected\nthis and perhaps has appealed too much to the desire on the part of the\nindividual to enter a heaven which is merely a replica of the earth.\nChristianity starts with a personal God and holds up before the believer the\ngoal of perfection for his own personality. It finds man without a self and\nconfers a real selfhood upon him.\n\nEarly Buddhism taught that salvation is accomplished by the individual alone.\nIt denies the possibility and the necessity of help from a divine source.\nSubsequent history has proved this to have been wrong. In India, Buddhism has\nbeen displaced by Hinduism, and in China, and Japan, the Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na has developed\nthe idea of salvation through another. The great stream of Buddhism has\nrecognized that man by himself is helpless. He must have the help of a divine\npower in order to obtain salvation. Christianity asserts that salvation is\npossible only through the intervention of God. The incarnation, the life, death\nand resurrection of Jesus and his work in the world through the Holy Spirit on\nthe one hand are the expression of God\u2019s solicitude for man, and, on the other\nhand, correspond to the deep need which men of all ages have felt, for a power\nabove themselves. From the early stages of magic to the highest reaches of\nreligion we find this constant factor recognized by human groups all over the\nworld. They bear witness to a power above themselves to whom they continually\nappeal. In Christianity we find this main tendency enunciated most clearly. The\nindividual cannot save himself. Mankind cannot save itself. Both must rely upon\nthe assistance of the divine power which started this universe on its way and\nwhich is the ever present creative force.\n\nChristianity, moreover, has established the community of believers including\nall classes and conditions of men. Herein each one may realize himself. Herein\nalso he may realize the kind of community which is friendly to his highest\naspirations for himself. Herein he has the opportunity to transmute the\ninstincts above mentioned into forces which make for the larger development of\nhis own person and the well-being of the community.\n\nAccordingly, as Christians face Buddhists, they can do so with the\nconsciousness that this great religion has been reaching out after the light\nwhich shines brightly in our Christian religion. They have the assurance not\nonly that they have a message which brings fulfilment to the ideas of the\nMah\u00e2y\u00e2na, but also that it has prepared the way for the hearts of the Chinese\nto receive the highest message of Christianity.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX I\nHINTS FOR THE PRELIMINARY STUDY OF BUDDHISM IN CHINA\n\n\nThe student should read and inwardly digest the booklet of K. J. Saunders.\n\nHe should follow the directions given in Appendix One of that book, This\nprocedure is important because the H\u00eenay\u00e2na Buddhism and the life of Buddha are\nthe background of Buddhism in China.\n\nThen he may take Hackmann\u2019s _Buddhism as a Religion_ (No. 15). This will\ngive a general orientation. This may be followed with R. F. Johnston\u2019s\n_Buddhist China_ (No. _20_). Along with this he may read Suzuki\u2019s\n_Awakening of Faith_ (No. 32), and also his _Outlines of Mah\u00e2yan\u00e2\nBuddhism (No._ 33). McGovern\u2019s _Introduction to Mah\u00e2yan\u00e2 Buddhism (No._\n23) will illuminate the philosophical background of Buddhism, and Eliot\u2019s\n_Hinduism and Buddhism_ (No. 13) will add historical perspective.\n\nThe translation of _Mahdydna Sutras_ by Beal and in the Sacred Books of\nthe East will give him some of the sources for the doctrines held in China. He\nmay begin as the Buddhist missionaries did with the sutra of the Forty-two\nsections and then take up the Diamond Sutra, and then completing the sutras in\nVol. 59 and the Catena of Buddhist Scriptures.\n\nFor the study of the ethical side he will find De Groot\u2019s _Le Code du\nMah\u00e2y\u00e2na en Chine_ very helpful. For the study of the sects Eliot, Vol. III,\npp. 303-320 _Northern Buddhism_ (No. 14) will be helpful.\n\nIn all his study he will find Eitel\u2019s _Handbook of Chinese Buddhism_ (No.\n12) indispensable. He must, however, make a Chinese index in order to be able\nto use the book.\n\nContact with monks will be helpful and is quite necessary in order to\nappreciate the human problems of the work.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX II\nA BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY\n\n\n1. BEAL, S. _Abstract of Four Lectures_ upon _Buddhist Literature_ in\n_China._ London, Triibner, 1882.\n\nLecture II, on \u201cMethod of Buddha\u2019s Teaching in the Vinaya Pitaka,\u201d and Lecture\nIV, on \u201cCoincidences Between Buddhism and Other Religions,\u201d especially\ndesirable.\n\n2. \u2014\u2014 _Buddhism in China,_ London, S. P. C. K, 1884.\n\nThe best comprehensive account of Chinese Buddhism, written by an authority.\n\n3. \u2014\u2014 _Catena of Buddhist Scriptures,_ from the Chinese. London, Triibner,\n1871.\n\nA good introduction to Chinese Buddhism from the sources.\n\n4. \u2014\u2014 _The Romantic Legend of S\u00e2kya Buddha._ London, Triibner, 1875.\n\nRecounts Buddha\u2019s history from the beginning to the conversion of the K\u00e2syapas\nand others.\n\n5. \u2014\u2014 _Texts from the Buddhist Canon Commonly Known_ as _D_\nhammapada. London, Triibner, 1878. Pocket edition, 1902.\n\nThese \u201cScriptural Texts,\u201d translated from the Chinese and abridged, are usually\nconnected with some event in Buddha\u2019s history. This translation has Indian\nanecdotes, illustrating the verses.\n\n6. COULING, S., editor. _The Encyclopaedia Sinica._ Shanghai, Kelly &\nWalsh, 1917.\n\nContains, on pages 67-75, a number of brief articles upon Buddhism in China.\n\n7. DE QROOT, J. J. M. _Religion of the Chinese._ New York, Macmillan,\n1900.\n\nPages 164-223 contain a summary of the main facts about Chinese Buddhism by an\nauthority.\n\n8. \u2014\u2014 _Sectarianism and Religious Persecution in China._ 2 vols. J.\nM\u00fcller, Amsterdam, 1903-1904.\n\nTreats from sources Confucianism\u2019s persecution of Buddhism and other sects. See\nVol. II. Index, under Buddhism, p. 572.\n\n9. DORE, HENEI. _Researches into Chinese Superstitions._ 6 vols. Tusewei\nPress, 1914-1920.\n\nA well illustrated miscellany of superstitions of all Chinese religions showing\nindistinctly their interpenetration by Buddhism. For Buddhism proper, see Vol.\nVI, pp. 89-233.\n\n10. EDKINS, J. _Chinese Buddhism._ 2d edition. London, Tr\u00fcbner, 1893.\n\nA very full account of Buddhism as seen by a Sinologue of the last generation.\n\n11. EITEL, E. J. _Buddhism: Its Historical, Theoretical and Popular\nAspects._ Hongkong, Lane, Crawford and Co., 1884.\n\nWritten by an observant scholar and descriptive of Buddhism of South China\nespecially.\n\n12. \u2014\u2014 _Handbook of Chinese Buddhism._ Presbyterian Mission Press,\nShanghai.\n\nThis is a Sanskrit-Chinese dictionary, a reprint of the second edition of 1888\nwithout the Chinese index necessary for identifying Chinese Buddhist terms.\n\n13. ELIOT, SIR CHARLES. _Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch._ 3\nvols. Edward Arnold and Co., 1921.\n\nThis is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of Buddhism by an experienced\nstudent. The parts especially related to Chinese Buddhism are Vol. II, pp.\n3-106; Vol. Ill, 223-335.\n\n14. JETTY, A. _Gods of Northern Buddhism._ Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1914.\n\nThis work is helpful in identifying images in the temples, though unfortunately\nfew of those given are Chinese.\n\n15. HACKMANN, H. _Buddhism as a Religion._ London, Probsthain, 1910.\n\nGives a general view of Buddhism from first-hand investigation. For Chinese\nBuddhism see pp. 200-257.\n\n16. HASTINGS, JAMES. _The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics._ New York,\nScribners, 1908.\n\nArticles Asvaghosa, Bodhisattva, China (Buddhism in), Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na Missions\n(Buddhist).\n\n17. HUME, R. E. _The Living Religions of the World._ New York, Scribners,\n1924.\n\nA clear comparative study of these religions in the light of Christian\nstandards.\n\n18. INGLIS, J. W. \u201cChristian Element in Chinese Buddhism.\u201d _International\nReview of Missions,_ Vol. V, 1916, pp. 587-602. An excellent article by a\nveteran missionary and scholar of Manchuria.\n\n19. JOHNSON, S. _Oriental Religions \u2026 China._ Boston, Houghton, Osgood\nCo., 1878.\n\nPages 800-833 give a comprehensive summary by a student of comparative\nreligion.\n\n20. JOHNSTON, R. F. _Buddhist_ China. New York, Dutton, 1913.\n\nA well-written, interesting book. The author knows his subject, and is held in\nhigh esteem by Buddhists in China.\n\n21. KEITH, A. BERRIEDALE. _Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon._\nOxford, Clarendon Press, 1923.\n\nA study of the historic development of the Buddhistic philosophy in India and\nCeylon which throws much light on the Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na.\n\n22. LODGE, J. E. _Chinese Buddhist Art._ Asia, Vol. XIX, June, 1919.\n\nSome of the choicest half-tones illustrating its character accompanied by\ninteresting descriptions.\n\n23. McGOVERN, W. M. _An Introduction of Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na Buddhism._ Dutton, 1922.\n\nThough written from the point of view of Japanese Buddhism it gives a good\ntreatment of metaphysical and psychological aspects of the Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na system.\n\n24. M\u00dcLLER, F. MAX. _Sacred Books of the East._ Vol. XLIX, Buddhist,\nMah\u00e2y\u00e2na Texts. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1894.\n\nA book of sources necessary for understanding Northern Buddhism.\n\n25. PARKER, E. H. _China and Religion._ New York, Dutton, 1905.\n\nA sketch of Buddhism by a scholar long resident in China is found in Chapter\nIV.\n\n26. PAUL, C. T. _The Presentation of Christianity to Buddhists._ New York,\nBoard of Missionary Preparation, 1924.\n\nA carefully prepared study of Buddhism from the viewpoint of missionaries\nworking in Buddhist lands.\n\n27. REICHELT, K. L. \u201cSpecial Work Among Chinese Buddhists.\u201d _Chinese\nRecorder,_ Vol. LI, 1920, July issue, pp. 491-497.\n\nAn article by a pioneer in work among Buddhists, of rare insight and sympathy.\n\n28. RICHARD, T. _The Awakening of Faith in the Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na Doctrine._ 2d\nedition. Shanghai, 1918.\n\nA loose translation by a very large-hearted and sympathetic student with an\nirenic spirit. See 32 below.\n\n29. RICHARD, T. _Guide to Buddhahood; Being a Standard Manual of Chinese\nBuddhism._ Shanghai., 1907.\n\n30. SAUNDERS, K. J. _Epochs of Buddhist History_ (Haskell Lectures),\nChicago University Press, 1922.\n\nA good summary of the main developments in Buddhism.\n\n31. STAUFFER, M. T. _The Christian Occupation of China._ Shanghai\nContinuation Committee, 1922.\n\nThe introductory section contains articles upon China\u2019s religions.\n\n32. SUZUKI, T. A\u2019svaghosa\u2019s _Awakening of Faith in the Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na._ Chicago,\nOpen Court Publishing Co., 1900.\n\nA far more accurate translation of this work than No. 28 above.\n\n33. \u2014\u2014 Outlines of _Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na Buddhism._ Chicago, Open Court Publishing\nCo., 1908.\n\nWhile written from the Japanese point of view it is necessary to the\nunderstanding of Chinese Buddhism.\n\n34. WATTERS, T. \u201cBuddhism in China.\u201d _Chinese Recorder,_ Vol. II, 1870,\npp. 1-7, 38-43, 64-68, 81-88, 117-122, 145-150, Shanghai.\n\nA valuable series of articles by an excellent Chinese scholar, discussing the\nhistory, persecutions, and various Buddhas of China.\n\n35. WEI, F. C. M. \u201cSalvation by Faith as Taught by the Pure Land Sect.\u201d\n_Chinese Recorder,_ Vol. LI, 1920, pp. 395-401, 485-491.\n\nA good article on the sect whose ideas have spread over China and Japan.\n\n36. WIEGER, L. _Bouddhisme Chinois,_ 2 vols. Ho-Kien-Fou, Roman Catholic\nPress, 1910-1913.\n\nThis contains the Chinese text and French translation of the life of Buddha as\nknown to China; also the ritual observed in ordination. A useful source book.","title":"Buddhism and Buddhists in China","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":27303}