The Religions of Japan Part 18

"Where Christianity has One Lord, Buddhism has a dozen."

"I think I may safely challenge the Buddhist priesthood to give a plain historical account of the Life of Amida, Kwannon, Dainichi, or any other Mah[=a]y[=a]na Buddha, without being in serious danger of forfeiting my stakes."

"Christianity openly puts this Absolute Unconditioned Essence in the forefront of its teaching. In Buddhism this absolute existence is only put forward, when the logic of circ.u.mstances compels its teachers to have recourse to it."--A. Lloyd, in The Higher Buddhism in the Light of the Nicene creed.

"Now these six characters, 'Na-mu-A-mi-da-Butsu,' Zend-[=o] has explained as follows: 'Namn' means [our] following His behest--and also [His] uttering the Prayer and bestowing [merit]

upon us. 'Amida Butsu' is the practice of this, consequently by this means a certainty of salvation is attained."

"By reason of the conferring on us sentient creators of this great goodness and great merit through the utterance of the Prayer, and the bestowal [by Amida] the evil Karma and [effect of the] pa.s.sions acc.u.mulated through the long Kalpas, since when there was no beginning, are in a moment annihilated, and in consequence, those pa.s.sions and evil Karma of ours all disappearing, we live already in the condition of the steadfast, who do not return [to revolve in the cycle of Birth and Death]."--Renny[=o] of the Shin sect, 1473.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G.o.d, and the Word was G.o.d."--John.

"The Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."--James.

CHAPTER IX - THE BUDDHISM OF THE j.a.pANESE

The Western Paradise.

We cannot take s.p.a.ce to show how, or how much, or whether at all, Buddhism was affected by Christianity, though it probably was. Suffice it to say that the J[=o]-d[=o] Shu, or Sect of the Pure Land, was the first of the many denominations in Buddhism which definitely and clearly set forth that especial peculiarity of Northern Buddhism, the Western Paradise. The school of thought which issued in J[=o]-d[=o] Shu was founded by the Hindoo, Memio. In A.D. 252 an Indian scholar, learned in the Tripitaka, came to China, and translated one of the great sutras, called Amitayus. This sutra gives a history of Tathagata Amitabha,[1]

from the first spiritual impulses which led him to the attainment of Buddha-hood in remote Kalpas down to the present time, when he dwells in the Western World, called the Happy, where he receives all living beings from every direction, helping them to turn away from confusion and to become enlightened.[2] The apocalyptic twentieth chapter of the Hokke Ki[=o] is a glorification of the transcendent power of the Tathagatas, expressed in flamboyant oriental rhetoric.

We have before called attention to the fact that, with the multiplication of sutras or the Sacred Canon and the vast increase of the apparatus of Buddhism as well as of the hardships of brain and body to be undergone in order to be a Buddhist, it was absolutely necessary that some labor-saving system should be devised by which the burden could be borne. Now, as a matter of fact, all sects claim to found their doctrine on Buddha or his work. According to the teaching of certain sects, the means of salvation are to be found in the study of the whole canon, and in the practice of asceticism and meditation. On the contrary, the new lights of Buddhism who came as missionaries into China, protested against this expenditure of so much mental and physical energy. One of the first Chinese propagators of the J[=o]-d[=o] doctrine declared that it was impossible, owing to the decay of religion in his own age, for anyone to be saved in this way by his own efforts. Hence, instead of the n.o.ble eight-fold path of primitive Buddhism, or of the complicated system of the later Buddhistic Phariseeism of India, he subst.i.tuted for the difficult road to Nirvana, a simple faith in the all-saving power of Amida. In one of the sutras it is taught, that if a man keeps in his memory the name of Amida one day, or seven days, the Buddha together with Buddhas elect, will meet him at the moment of his death, in order to let him be born in the Pure Land, and that this matter has been equally approved by all other Buddhas of ten different directions.

One of the sutras, translated in China during the fifth century, contains the teaching of Buddha, which he delivered to the wife of the King of Magudha, who on account of the wickedness of her son was feeling weary of this world. He showed her how she might be born into the Pure Land. Three paths of good actions were pointed out. Toward the end of the particular sutra which he advised her to read and recite, Buddha says: "Let not one's voice cease, but ten times complete the thought, and repeat the formula, of the adoration of Amida." "This practice,"

adds the j.a.panese exegete and historian, "is the most excellent of all."

How well this latter teaching is practised may be demonstrated when one goes into a Buddhist temple of the J[=o]-d[=o] sect in j.a.pan, and hears the constant refrain,--murmured by the score or more of listeners to the sermon, or swelling like the roar of the ocean's waves, on festival days, when thousands sit on the mats beneath the fretted roof to enjoy the exposition of doctrine--"Namu Amida Butsu"--"Glory to the Eternal Buddha!"[3]

The apostolical succession or transmission through the patriarchs and apostles of India and China, is well known and clearly stated, withal duly accredited and embellished with signs and wonders, in the historical literature of the J[=o]-d[=o] sect. In Buddhism, as in Christianity, the questions relating to True Churchism, High Churchism, the succession of the apostles, teachers and rulers, and the validity of this or that method of ordination, form a large part of the literature of controversy. Nevertheless, as in the case of many a Christian sect which calls itself the only true church, the date of the organization of J[=o]-d[=o] was centuries later than that of the Founder and apostles of the original faith. Five hundred years after Zen-d[=o] (A.D. 600-650), the great propagator of the J[=o]-d[=o] philosophy, H[=o]-nen, the founder of the J[=o]-d[=o] sect, was born; and this phase of organized Buddhism, like that of Shin Shu and Nichirer Shu, may be cla.s.sed under the head of Eastern or j.a.panese Buddhism.

When only nine years of age, the boy afterward called H[=o]-nen, was converted by his father's dying words. He went to school in his native province, but his priest-teacher foreseeing his greatness, sent him to the monastery of Hiyeizan, near Ki[=o]to. The boy's letter of introduction contained only these words: "I send you an image of the Bodhisattva, (Mon-ju) Manjusri." The boy shaved his head and received the precepts of the Ten-dai sect, but in his eighteenth year, waiving the prospect of obtaining the headship of the great denomination, he built a hut in the Black Ravine and there five times read through the five thousand volumes[4] of the Tripitaka. He did this for the purpose of finding out, for the ordinary and ignorant people of the present day, how to escape from misery. He studied Zen-d[=o]'s commentary, and repeated his examination eight times. At last, he noticed a pa.s.sage in it beginning with the words, "Chiefly remember or repeat the name of Amida with a whole and undivided heart." Then he at once understood the thought of Zen-d[=o], who taught in his work that whoever at any time practises to remember Buddha, or calls his name even but once, will gain the right effect of going to be born in the Pure Land after death. This j.a.panese student then abandoned all sorts of practices which he had hitherto followed for years, and began to repeat the name of Amida Buddha sixty thousand times a day. This event occurred in A.D. 1175.

H[=o]-nen, Founder of the Pure Land Sect.

This path-finder to the Pure Land, who developed a special doctrine of salvation, is best known by his posthumous t.i.tle of H[=o]-nen. During his lifetime he was very famous and became the spiritual preceptor of three Mikados. After his death his biography was compiled in forty-eight volumes by imperial order, and later, three other emperors copied or republished it. In the history of j.a.pan this sect has been one of the most influential, especially with the imperial and sh[=o]gunal families.

In Ki[=o]to the magnificent temples and monasteries of Chi[=o]n-in, and in T[=o]ki[=o] Z[=o]-j[=o]-ji, are the chief seats of the two princ.i.p.al divisions of this sect. The gorgeous mausoleums,--well known to every foreign tourist,--at Shiba and Uyeno in T[=o]ki[=o], and the cl.u.s.tered and matchless splendors of Nikk[=o], belong to this sect, which has been under the patronage of the ill.u.s.trious line of the Tokugawa,[5] while its temples and shrines are numbered by many thousands.

The doctrine of the J[=o]-d[=o], or the Pure Land Sect, is easily discerned. One of Buddha's disciples said, that in the teachings of the Master there are two divisions or vehicles. In the Maha-yana also there are two gates; the Holy path, and the Pure Land. The Smaller Vehicle is the doctrine by which the immediate disciples of Buddha and those for five hundred years succeeding, practised the various virtues and discipline. The gateway of the Maha-yana is also the doctrine, by which in addition to the trainings mentioned, there are also understood the three virtues of spiritual body, wisdom and deliverance. The man who is able successfully to complete this course of discipline and practice is no ordinary person, but is supposed to possess merit produced from good actions performed in a former state of existence. The doctrine by which man may do so, is called the gate of the Holy Path.

During the fifteen hundred years after Buddha there were from time to time, such personages in the world, who attained the end of the Holy Path; but in these latter days people are more insincere, covetous and contentious, and the discipline is too hard for degenerate times and men. The three trainings already spoken of are the correct causes of deliverance; but if people think them as useless as last year's almanac, when can they complete their deliverance? H[=o]-nen, deeply meditating on this, shut up the gate of the Holy Path and opened that of the Pure Land; for in the former the effective deliverance is expected in this world by the three trainings of morality, thought and learning, but in the latter the great fruit of going to be born in the Pure Land after death, is expected through the sole practice of repeating Buddha's name.

Moreover, it is not easy to accomplish the cause and effect of the Holy Path, but both those of the doctrine of the Pure Land are very easy to be completed. The difference is like that between travelling by land and travelling by water.[6] The doctrines preached by the Buddha are eighty-four thousand in number; that is to say, he taught one kind of people one system, that of the Holy Path, and another kind that of the Pure Land. The Pure Land doctrine of H[=o]-nen was derived from the sutra preached by the great teacher Shaka.

This simple doctrine of "land travel to Paradise" was one which the people of j.a.pan could easily understand, and it became amazingly popular. Salvation along this route is a case of being "carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others sought to win the prize and sailed through b.l.o.o.d.y seas."

Largely through the influence of J[=o]-d[=o] Shu and of those sects most closely allied to it, the technical terms, peculiar phraseology and vocabulary of Buddhism became part of the daily speech of the j.a.panese.

When one studies their language he finds that it is a complicated organism, including within itself several distinct systems. Just as the human body harmonizes within itself such vastly differing organized functions as the osseous, digestive, respiratory, etc., so, embedded in what is called the j.a.panese language, there are, also, a Chinese vocabulary, a polite vernacular, one system of expression for superiors, another for inferiors, etc. Last of all, there is, besides a peculiar system of p.r.o.nunciation taught by the priests, a Buddhist language, which suggests a firmament of starry and a prairie of flowery metaphors, with intermediate deeps of s.p.a.ce full of figurative expressions.

In our own mother tongue we have something similar. The dialect of Canaan, the importations of Judaism, the irruptions of Hebraic idioms, phrases and names into Puritanism, and the e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns of the camp-meeting, which vein and color our English speech, may give some idea of the variegated strains which make up the j.a.panese language.

Further, the peculiar nomenclature of the Fifth Monarchy men, is fully paralleled in the personal names of priests and even of laymen in j.a.pan.

Characteristics of the J[=o]-d[=o] Sect.

H[=o]-nen teaches that the solution of abstract questions and doctrinal controversies is not needed as means of grace to promote the work of salvation. Whether the priests and their followers were learned and devout, or the contrary, mattered little as regards the final result, as all that is necessary is the continual repet.i.tion of the prayer to Amida.

It may be added that his followers practise the master's precepts with emphasis. Their incessant pounding upon wooden fish-drums and bladder-shaped bells during their public exercises, is as noisy as a frontier camp-meeting. The rosary is a notable feature in the private devotions of the Buddhists, but the J[=o]-d[=o] sect makes especial use of the double rosary, which was invented with the idea of being manipulated by the left hand only; this gave freedom to the right hand, "facilitating a happy combination of spiritual and secular duty." At funerals of believers a particular ceremony was exclusively practised by this sect, at which the friends of the deceased sat in a circle facing the priest, making as many repet.i.tions as possible.[7]

In Mohammedan countries, blind men, who cannot look down into the surrounding gardens or house tops at the pretty women in or on them, but who have clear and penetrating voices, are often chosen us muezzins to utter the call to prayer from the minarets. On much the same principle, in Old j.a.pan, J[=o]-d[=o] priests, blind to metaphysics, but handsome, elegantly dressed and with fine delivery, went about the streets singing and intoning prayers, rich presents being made to them, especially by the ladies. The J[=o]-d[=o] people cultivate art and aesthetic ornamentation to a notable degree. They also understand the art of fict.i.tious and sensational miracle-mongering. It is said that Zen-d[=o], the famous Chinese founder of this Chinese sect, when writing his commentary, prayed for a wonderful exhibition of supernatural power.

Thereupon, a being arrayed as a priest of dignified presence gave him instruction on the division of the text in his first volume. Hence Zen-d[=o] treats his own work as if it were the work of Buddha, and says that no one is allowed either to add or to take away even a word or sentence of the book.

The Pure Land is the western world where Amida lives. It is perfectly pure and free from faults. Those who wish to go thither will certainly be re-born there, but otherwise they will not. This world, on the contrary, is the effect of the action of all beings, so that even those who do not wish to be born here are nevertheless obliged to come. This world is called the Path of Pain, because it is full of all sorts of pains, such as birth, old age, disease, death, etc. This is therefore a world not to be attached to, but to be estranged and separated from. One who is disgusted with this world, and who is filled with desire for that world, will after death be born there. Not to doubt about these words of Buddha, even in the slightest degree, is called deep faith; but if one entertains the least doubts he will not be born there. Hence the saying: "In the great sea of the law of Buddha, faith is the only means to enter."

Salvation Through the Merits of Another.

In this absolute trust in the all-saving power of Amida as compared with the ways promulgated before, we see the emergence of the Buddhist doctrine of justification by faith, the simplification of theology, and a revolt against Buddhist scholasticism. The j.a.panese technical term, "_tariki_," or relying upon the strength of another, renouncing all idea of _ji-riki_ or self-power,[8] is the substance of the J[=o]-d[=o]

doctrine; but the expanded term _ta-riki chin no ji-riki_, or "self-effort depending on another," while expressing the whole dogma, is rather scornfully applied to the J[=o]-d[=o]ists by the men of the Shin sect. The invocation of Amida is a meritorious act of the believer, much repet.i.tion being the substance of this combination of personal and vicarious work.

H[=o]-nen, after making his discovery, believing it possible for all mankind eventually to attain to perfect Buddhaship, left, as we have seen, the Ten-dai sect, which represented particularism and laid emphasis on the idea of the elect. H[=o]-nen taught Buddhist universalism. Belief and repet.i.tion of prayer secure birth into the Pure Land after the death of the body, and then the soul moves onward toward the perfection of Buddha-hood.

The j.a.panese were delighted to have among them a genius who could thus j.a.panize Buddhism, and J[=o]-d[=o] doctrine went forth conquering and to conquer. From the twelfth century, the tendency of j.a.panese Buddhism is in the direction of universalism and democracy. In later developments of J[=o]-d[=o], the pantheistic tendencies are emphasized and the syncretistic powers are enlarged. While mysticism is a striking feature of the sect and the attainment of truth is by the grace of Amida, yet the native Kami of j.a.pan are logically accepted as avatars of Buddha.

History had little or no rights in the case; philosophy was dictator, and that philosophy was H[=o]-nen's. Those later Chinese deities made by personifying attributes or abstract ideas, which sprang up after the introduction of Buddhism into China, are also welcomed into the temples of this sect. That the common people really believe that they themselves may attain Buddha-hood at death, and enter the Pure Land, is shown in the fact that their ordinary expression for the dead saint is Hotoke--a general term for all the G.o.ds that were once human. Some popular proverbs indicate this in a form that easily lends itself to irreverence and merriment.

The whole tendency of j.a.panese Buddhism and its full momentum were now toward the development of doctrine even to startling proportions.

Instead of the ancient path of asceticism and virtue with agnosticism and atheism, we see the means of salvation put now, and perhaps too easily, within the control of all. The pathway to Paradise was made not only exceedingly plain, but also extremely easy, perhaps even ridiculously so; while the door was open for an outburst of new and local doctrines unknown to India, or even to China. The rampant vigor with which j.a.panese Buddhism began to absorb everything in heaven, earth and sea, which it could make a worshipable object or cause to stand as a Kami or deity to the mind, will be seen as we proceed. The native proverb, instead of being an irreverent joke, stands for an actual truth--"Even a sardine's head may become an object of worship."

"Reformed" Buddhism.

We now look at what foreigners call "Reformed" Buddhism, which some even imagine has been borrowed from Protestant Christianity--notwithstanding that it is centuries older than the Reformation in Europe.

The Shin Shu or True Sect, though really founded on the J[=o]-d[=o]

doctrines, is separate from the sect of the Pure Land. Yet, besides being called the Shin Shu, it is also spoken of as the J[=o]-d[=o] Shin Shu or the True Sect of the Pure Land. It is the extreme form of the Protestantism of Buddhism. It lays emphasis on the idea of salvation wholly through the merits of another, but it also paints in richer tints the sensuous delights of the Western Paradise. As the term Pure Land is ant.i.thetical to that of the Holy Path, so the word Shin, or True, expresses the contrary of what are termed the "temporary expedients."

While some say that we should practise good works, bring our stock of merits to maturity, and be born in the Pure Land, others say that we need only repeat the name of Amida in order to be born in the Pure Land, by the merit produced from such repet.i.tion. These doctrines concerning repet.i.tions, however, are all considered but "temporary expedients." So also is the rigid cla.s.sification, so prominent in "the old sects," of all beings or pupils into three grades. As in Islam or Calvinism, all believers stand on a level. To Shin-ran the Radical, the practices even of J[=o]-d[=o] seemed complicated and difficult, and all that appeared necessary to him was faith in the desire of Amida to bless and save. To Shinran,[9] faith was the sole saving act.

To rely upon the power of the Original Prayer of Amitabha Buddha with the whole heart and give up all idea of _ji-riki_ or self-power, is called the truth. This truth is the doctrine of this sect of Shin.[10]

In a word, not synergism, not faith _and_ works, but faith only is the teaching of Shin Shu.

Shinran, the founder of this sect in j.a.pan, was born A.D. 1173 and died in the year 1262. He was very naturally one who had been first educated in the J[=o]-d[=o] sect, then the ruling one at the imperial court in Ki[=o]to. Shall we call him a j.a.panese Luther, because of his insistence on salvation by faith only? He is popularly believed to have been descended from one of the Shint[=o] G.o.ds, being on his father's side the twenty-first in the line of generation. On his mother's side he was of the lineage of the Minamoto or Genji, a clan sprung from Mikados and famous during centuries for its victorious warriors. H[=o]-nen was his teacher, and like his teacher, Shinran studied at the great monastery near Ki[=o]to, learning first the doctrine of the Tendai, and then, at the age of twenty-nine, receiving from H[=o]-nen the tenets of the J[=o]-d[=o] sect. Shortly after, at thirty years of age, he began to promulgate his doctrines. Then he took a step as new to Buddhism, as was Luther's union with Katharine von Bora, to the ecclesiasticism of his time. He married a lady of the imperial court, named Tamayori, who was the daughter of the Kuambaku or premier.