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A passage for editorial review. A CHRISTIAN'S APPRECIATION OF BUDDHISM 15 velopment of Children," in Religious Education, October, 1915, Hartshorne argues for the practicability of such investigation. Some of the most pressing problems to be studied are the following: (1) effi- cient religious education for the various stages of the developing life, young child, older child, boy, girl, young man, young woman, adult; (2) the place of the intellectual, the affective, and the conduct elements in religious develop- ment; (3) the development of moral and religious life in connection with the growth of sex-consciousness; (4) the relation of religion and play; (5) the preparation of the child for church membership. A CHRISTIAN'S APPRECIATION OF BUDDHISM REV. GILBERT REID, D.D. International Institute of China, Shanghai, China There was a time when men thought that all religions which were not Christian could be called false. The new generation of missionaries, while no less convinced of the superiority of Christianity to the religions of the peoples to whom they minister, are just as eager to see the truth in these non-Christian religions as they are to see what is untrue. Dr. Reid's article is an illustration of this new state of mind. He does not yield a whit of allegiance to Jesus in showing some of the sympathetic points on which the Christian and the follower of Buddha can agree. It is not our purpose to give a com- plete exposition of Buddhism, but an appreciation. The courteous, and also the most beneficial, thing to be done by the follower of one religion in reference to another religion is to point out the excellences, not the defects, of the other. This is like looking in the light and at the light, rather than trying to peer into darkness. There is much in Buddhism which a Christian in good reason should heartily appreciate and openly recog- nize. If Buddhist teachings or prac- tices are bad, it is more becoming to let the Buddhist himself point out what they are. An unknown writer of a striking book entitled The Creed of Buddha, com- panion of The Creed of Christ, after referring to current charges against Buddhism — that it is materialistic, athe- istic, pessimistic, egoistic, and nihilistic — asks, "Can these charges be sub- stantiated ? " "If they can," the writer says, "we are confronted by the most perplexing of all problems. How comes it that a religion which has such vital defects has had such a successful career ? That Buddha won to his will the 'deep- est heart' of the Far East is undeniable. Was it by preaching the gospel of mate- rialism, of atheism, of pessimism, of ego- 16 THE BIBLICAL WORLD ism, of nihilism, that he achieved this signal triumph?" To our mind there has plainly been a misconception of Buddhism, but instead of answering one by one these charges, we shall adopt the positive and constructive method, and point out one by one those features of Buddhism which impress us as being vital and paramount, and of which the Christian can justifiably express appreciation. Buddhism has always been a reform- ing religion, just as Christ was a reformer in Judaism, and Huss and Luther and Knox and Cramner were reformers in the Christian church under the leader- ship of the Pope of Rome. Its beginning in India by Sakyamuni was as a reforma- tion in Brahmanism. It was a protest against ceremonialism, the caste system, and excessive asceticism. It attempted to bring the essential ideas of Brahman- ism into life. Brahmanism ever since has been different from what it was before. Sakyamuni in his own life repre- sented the reforming spirit. He began his career as a religious devotee by practicing asceticism. Finding this un- satisfactory, as being too selfish, he went forth into the busy world and for forty years preached and taught, prac- ticed and did good, with thought of others more than of self. Five hundred years later a northern or new Buddhism made its appearance. This is known as the Mahayani branch of Buddhism, or the Great Vehicle, with many new elements. The new teacher was Ashvagosha, during the reign of the Mogul emperor Kanishka. This is the reforming branch that has spread through China and Japan. In its en- trance into Japan, it took on other reforming principles, as illustrated in the Pure Land School. Since contact with Christianity, the Buddhism of Japan has taken on other reforming ideas, and it is this branch which is eager to extend its missionary activities to China. Buddhism thus is far from being an unchanging faith, but advances with the knowledge of the ages and adapts itself to the varied conditions of men. II Buddhism, whether of the primitive or modern school of thought, is con- spicuous for its sympathetic realization of human suffering and its purpose of helping to transform suffering into happiness and peace. In familiar Chi- nese phraseology this world is called a world of "the bitter sea," which is to be changed into a world of "paradise." Buddhism does not attempt to close its eyes to the sorrows, the miseries, the calamities, and the sufferings of this world and of life. Neither does it view them with cold unconcern or with stern fatalism, but with pity, united with the purpose of giving relief and bringing about happiness. The Buddha, like the Christ, was touched with the feeling of man's infirmities; he, too, was "acquainted with grief." A merely kindly reference to human suffering instinctively arouses a response; it is sorrow which is the fellow-feeling that draws men together. So, too, the desire for happiness — desire to escape from suffering — is universal. He who presents the possibility of happiness also arouses a response. The very dream of happiness is soothing. Jesus began his A CHRISTIAN'S APPRECIATION OF BUDDHISM 17 first Sermon on the Mount with eight beatitudes. Sakyamuni, too, spoke much of happiness as well as of suffering. Happiness took on its peculiar type from its connection with suffering. The joy of Buddhism is always "the joy of tears." This gives to happiness an element of tenderness which has strongly appealed to the oriental mind. Sakyamuni has many references to suffering. One citation is as follows: Birth is suffering; old age is suffering; disease is suffering; sorrow and misery are suffering; to be united with loathsome things is suffering; the loss of that which we love and the failure in attaining that which is longed for are suffering; all these things, O brethren, are suffering. Again he speaks very much as in Ec- clesiastes: Everything is transient and nothing endures. There is birth and death, growth and decay; there is combination and sepa- ration. The glory of the world is like a flower; it stands in full bloom in the morn- ing and fades in the heat of the day. The message of joy and hope, the gospel, which Buddha brings, has this refrain: Ye that suffer from the tribulations of life, ye that have to struggle and endure, ye that yearn for a life of truth, rejoice at the glad tidings. There is balm for the wounded, and there is bread for the hungry. There is water for the thirsty, and there is hope for the despairing. There is light for those in darkness, and there is inexhaustible blessing for the upright. These two ideas of suffering and hap- piness, complementary to each other, are brought out even more effectively in the Mahayana School, to which the Chinese and Japanese are mostly de- voted. The most popular object of worship is Kuan Yin, called the goddess of mercy, who "saves from suffering and saves from misery," an expression current among the people of both nations. So The Awakening of Faith, the great classic of modern Buddhism, in answer to the question, why the book is written, makes this reply: "It is to induce all living beings to leave the path of sorrow and to obtain the highest happiness, rather than to seek the glitter of fame and the wealth of the world." The book closes with this hymn: Deep and wide are Buddhist laws: These in brief I have declared, God-ward are eternal stores, Blessings give to countless worlds. Instead of Nirvana, suited to the philosophic temperament of India, these other peoples of the Far East look for- ward to a paradise in the West or to the Pure Land, where happiness has over- come all sorrow, where purity and blessedness, charity and peace, reign together. Ill A third ground of appreciation is that which characterizes Buddhism more than anything else, namely, compassion. Brotherly love, or fraternity, in Con- fucianism is cold. Compassion in Buddhism is warm and moving. The Buddha once said, among sayings of the same type: The charitable man is loved by all. Hard it is to understand: By giving away our food, we get more strength; by bestow- ing clothing on others, we gain more beauty; by founding abodes of purity and truth, we acquire great treasures. Again, when the Buddha was visited by one of the Indian kings, who came in his royal equipage, these words of wisdom were spoken: 18 THE BIBLICAL WORLD That which is most needed is a loving heart. Regard your people as an only son. Do not oppress them; do not destroy them; keep in due check every member of your body; forsake unrighteous doctrine and walk in the straight path; do not exalt yourself by trampling upon others. Com- fort and befriend the suffering. Another saying is this: "Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love — this is an old rule." This element, or rather the essence, of Buddhism — this compassion — is specially illustrated in the new Buddhism by the Buddha Amitabha, and by the subordinate divinity Kuan Yin.