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Descending from the shrine of vision and revelation, with a complete scheme of reconciliation, with correlated cata- logues of Shinto and Buddhist gods, with liturgies, with lists of old popular festivals newly named, with the ap- paratus of art to captivate the senses, K0b0 forthwith baptized each native ShintO deity with a new Chinese- Buddhistic name. For every Shinto festival he arranged a corresponding Buddhist’s saints’ day or gala time, Then, training up a band of disciples, he sent them forth proclaiming the new irenicon. It was just the time for this brilliant and able ecclesiastic to succeed. The power and personal influence of the Mikado were weakening, the court swarmed with monks, the rising military classes were already safely under the control of the shavelings, and the pen of learning had everywhere proved itself mightier than the sword and KOBO-DAISHI 81 muscle. K0ob0’s particular dialectic weapons were those of the Yoga-chara, or in Japanese, the Shingon Shu, or Sect of the True Word, He, like his Chinese master, taught that we can attain the state of the Enlightened or Buddha, while in the present physical body which was born of our parents. This branch of Buddhism is said to have been found- ed in India about A. D. 200, by a saint who made the discovery of an iron pagoda inhabited by the holy one, Vagrasattva, who communicated the exact doctrine to those who have handed it down through the Hindoo and Chinese patriarchs. | The books or scriptures of this sect are in three sutras; yet the essential point in them is the Mandala or the circle of the Two Parts, or in Japanese Ryodbu. Introduced in to China, A. D. 720, it is known as the Yoga-chara school. K0b0 finding a Chinese worm, made a Japanese dragon, able to swallow a national religion. In the act of deglu- tition and the long process of the digestion of Shinto, Japanese Buddhism became something different from every other form of the faith in Asia, Noted above all previous developments of Buddhism for its pantheistic tendencies, the Shingon sect could recognize in any Shintd god, demi- god, hero, or being, the avatar in a previous stage of existence of some Buddhist being of corresponding grade. For example, Amatérasi or Ten-Sh6-Dai-Jin, the sun- goddess, becomes Dai-nichi-Ny6rai or Amida, whose co- lossal effigies stand in the bronze images Dai Butsu at Nara, 82 BUDDHISM IN ENGLISH Kyodto and Kamakura. Ojin, the god of war, became Hachiman Dai Bosatsu, or the great Bodhisattva of the Eight Banners. Adopt- ed as their patron by the fighting Genji or Minamoto warriors of mediaeval times, the Buddhists could not well afford to have this popular deity outside their pantheon. For each of the thirty days of the month, a Bodhisattva, or in Japanese pronunciation Bosatsu, was appointed. Each of these Bodhisattvas became a Dai Myd Jin or Great Enlightened Spirit, and was represented as an avatar in Japan of Buddha in the previous ages, when the Japanese were not yet prepared to receive the holy law of Buddism. In this way, Kobo arranged a sort of clearing-house or joint-stock company in which the Bodhisattvas, Kami and other miscellaneous beings, in either the native or foreign religion, were mutually interchangeable. In a large sense, this feat of priestly dexterity was but the repetition in history, of that of Asanga with the Brahmanism and Bud- dhism of India three centuries before. It was this Asanga who wrote the Yoga-chara Bhumi. The succession of syncretists in India, China and Japan is Asanga, Hiulio and Kobo. —W. E. Griffis, “ The Religions of Japan” — THE TRUE RECLUSES: A DIALOGNE PART V MONACHAL CHAPTER XX] THE TRUE RECLUSES: A DIALOGUE ( This ts perhaps the most artistic of the charming ‘Psalms of the Sisters’, inasmuch as it contains something of dramatic development and a good deal of quiet humour, Rohini gives the purest motives for her love of the yellow-robed brotherhood: the worldly-minded householder adds the motive of selfinterest; and she quietly bring him back to the realities — this time with good effects ! As a contemporary picture of the early Sangha, this poem as of unique interest.) See, Father, see the holy men,” thou criest, Awaking me from sleep, O Rohini: And ever art thou praising the recluses ! Say, daughter, would’st thou join their company ? Forever dost thou feed them on my substance: Say why are these recluses dear to thee? A lazy crew of idle good-for-nothings, BUDDHISM IN ENGLISH Who batten on the food of honest men! Cadgers they are, and fond of dainty feeding ; Why dost thou love them, daughter, tell me then?’ ‘Full many atime, O Father, hast thou asked me! Come now I'll tell thee of their lofty work; For workers truly are they of the noblest; Battle with hate and lust they do not shirk. Must I not love them? For their work is holy, Holy in inward thought and word and deed, As pearl or ocean-shell so pure and lustrous, Untainted they by hatred, sloth, or greed. Versed in the Righteous Law they are, and skilful: Aye, and they practise too the law they preach ; Learnéd and self-possessed and ever watchful, Living in all things as the Sages teach, Must I not love them? Far afield they wander, Wise and so lowly-minded and discreet; Knowing the end of every ill and sorrow— See, Father, how they pace the village street! Downcast their eyes; their paces measured, sober, They meditate, nor look to left or right: They lay not up on earth the fleeting treasure ; Finished their quest, their lofty goal in sight! / THE TRUE RECLUSES: A DIALOGUE 85 Poor are they too, yet touch not gold nor silver ; Each day supplies for them their simple needs ; From many lands and towns they join the Order, Bound in the sacred tie of loving deeds.’ “Lucky the day when thou wast born, O maiden! Firm-founded is thy faith in Jewels Three. These are the harvest-fields, as well thou knowest, Where there is very fruitful husbandry. I too will serve the worthy true recluses ; Such service is repaid most bounteously !’ ‘Father, if any evil apprehending Thou would’st be wholly rid of evil’s snare, Go get thee to the Master and take refuge, Straight to the Holy Norm do thou repair ; Aye, and whate’er the noble Bhikkhus bid thee That do: for truest happiness lies there.’ ‘Lo, now I'll hie me straightway to the Buddha, His holy teaching from the Bhikkhus I'll obtain: So shall I too observe the noble precepts And the best bliss on earth I'll surely gain,’ —K. J. Saunders, “Heart of Buddhism” — 86 BUDDHISM IN ENGLISH CHAPTER XXII A BUDDHIST SABBATH IN SEYLON (I) The light is breaking in the east, Already in the gloom of the tall trees the squirrel’s strange chirping bark is heard, and the hoarse grating cough of the monkey mingles with the coppersmith’s metallic note and the “earli- est pipe of half-awakened bird.” Dawn is at hand. Already 4d-a, the black crow, is impudently demand- ing his early meal. ‘Yet a few moments and the sun will strike the brass pinnacle of the temple, and we must offer flowers as he rises, so let us hasten onwards. It is a Buddhist holy day, -—New Moon or Full Moon in the dry season, maybe Wesak Day, — the day of days, in Lanka-Dipa, the land beloved of the children of the Lord, the fairest isle on earth, where the yellow robe still studs the palm-groves, and the white dome of the cagasa gleams beyond the nameless blue- green of the tracts of paddy-fields, So we bathe and don the simple garb of the wéadsaka — a vast and two white cloths, upper and lower. Thus clad, bare head and foot, like Roman senators in city garb, we join little groups silently making their way to the temple on the hill, At the foot of the long stone stairs leading to the sacred place are women and children, also clad in white, bearing flat baskets of flowers. Here, too, is a small band of youths, white-robed, about A BUDDHIST SABBATH IN SEYLON 87 to take with us the eightfold vows or attha-sira for the first time in this life. There is just a touch of chill in the air, and some have drawn their upper robe over the head, and at a distance look like hooded nuns. This is for them a solemn day, marking the desire to be also of those who have set their faces towards the stream, a mark of admission tothe outer court of the true communi- ty of Buddha-putta, sons of the Buddha. On this holy day, when especial influences are shed upon the earth, especial merit may be gained by those who keep the eight vows, the layman’s five of every day, and the extra three and perfected third precept kept by those who wish to take a further step. By taking the full ten vows one is, as it were, an ordained monk or dhikkhu, For said the Buddha; He who would be like me should truly keep The eight vows on the eighth and fourteenth day And fifteenth of the half-month of the moon, As well as in the monk’s retreat. For beneath the shadow of such an one, living the righteous life, as beneath the shadow of a mighty tree, his wife and children, relatives and friends and al] de- pendent on him will assuredly prosper. Thus, again, ina stanza are set forth the duties of the day: He who has taken all the Precepts Eight Kills not, nor steals, nor speaketh words untrue, Nor dulls the brain with drugs, and from all deeds 88 BUDDHISM IN ENGLISH Of lust abstains; nor does he eat at night Or at forbidden seasons; nor with flowers Adorn his body, nor use scents, but sleeps On a mat spread on the ground. This is the Fast With the . bservance of the Precepts Eight. Thus by the Buddha, the Enlightened One, Who hath all sorrow ended, as the Path To end all sorrow, this hath been declared.