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The first period covers the first three weeks of Buddha’s life after he had received enlightenment. At that time he gathered about him the bodhisattvas and heavenly beings, and discoursed to them on the subject of his great and all-embracing teaching. This is to be found in the voluminous work ‘Hua-yen Ching” (3 fe ®) (Sanskrit: ‘ Buddhava-tamsaka- mahavaipulya Sutra’’). 2. When Buddha realized that his lofty teachings could not be understood by ordinary persons, he began to simplify his system, and proclaimed the “four truths about suffering, and salvation from suffering, together with the truths of the eightfold way.” If one follows these directions, one can achieve the dignity of [50] INNER DEVELOPMENT an arhat.' This period covers the next twelve years of Buddha’s life, and its teaching has found its literary expression in the Hinayana scriptures. 3. When the master perceived that his disciples fell into the mistake of thinking that the whole truth was contained in the above-named Hinayana scriptures, he hastened to declare to them that he still had immeasur- ably more about which to enlighten them. What they had already heard was but an introduction to the truth. Now they should enter into that great en- lightenment which would not only make them personally saints (Chinese: lo-han, # ¥), but would make them co-workers in the great labour of salvation for the world. They should become bodhisattvas (Chinese: p‘u-t‘i-sa-to, # #2 # 4%, abbreviated form p‘u-sa, 2 gg). This period extends over the next eight years, and corresponds to the writings which are peculiar to Mahayana. 4. When Buddha’s disciples heard these lofty and spiritual truths being developed, they very soon came to the realization that the common man could not possibly be able to grasp them, and, therefore, for him there remained, after all, only one way of salvation open, that which was presented by Hinayana. Buddha was obliged, therefore, to use the next twenty-two years of his life in clearing away this misunderstanding. During this time he proved that Hinayana was merely a preparatory stage, a first vehicle, which could convey all who truly believed upward into the higher realm of thought, i. e., into Mahayana. The principal work in 1The arhat is especially prominent in Hinayana. [51] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM which these teachings of Buddha appear, and where, consequently, we find the teachings of Mahayana crystallized and simplified to the extreme, is called “Ta Pan Jo Ching” (XK ft 27 #): “ Mahapragnapara- mita Sutra’’). 5. Finally, when Buddha had reached old age (seventy-two), he began to preach the loftiest and deepest doctrine, asserting that every individual may attain to Nirvana. Indeed, he himself had come down to earth for this very purpose, and had taken upon himself the repeated pangs of birth in order to preach this universal salvation (the salvation of all living things). The teachings connected with this are collected in the famous “Lotus” scripture, “ Fa-hua Ching”? (7%: 3€ #) (Sanskrit: ““Saddharma Pundarika Sutra’’), the book which, according to the views of the Tien-t‘ai School, is the keystone, the universal book of salvation, and, therefore, the principal scripture for the whole of Buddhism. Later, other writings were introduced into this fifth section, works which are considered the natural fruit of the universal gospel of “The Lotus Scripture.” First of all is “The Nirvana Scripture,” “Nieh-p‘an Ching” (#2 4 &) (Sanskrit: <‘‘Mahaparinirvana Sutra.”) In this book it is maintained that all creatures have within them the seed-germ that may become a Buddha, and can, therefore, be certain of reaching the eternal bliss of Nirvana.! Quite naturally the most developed form of Mahayana, which we know in the ‘‘ Pure Land” scriptures, has been placed in this 1Here the conception of Nirvana is filled with a new content. [52] INNER DEVELOPMENT fifth period. Here, therefore, belong the typical “Pure Land” scriptures, the great and the little Amitabha scriptures (Sanskrit: “Sukhavati Vyuha Sutra’’?)—the “Wu-liang-shou Ching” (4§ it 3 #) and the “O-mi-t‘o Ching” (3 #@ Be #)—and the ‘‘Kuan-wu-liang-shou Ching” (#2 4¢ 2a 3 ®) (San- skrit: Amita Yurdhyana Sutra’’). It is difficult to describe what significance this ingenious classification, and the views connected with it, received in China, Korea, and Japan. For many hundreds of years Chih-k‘ai’s solution stood as the only right and unassailable one. It was on this account, also, that the remarkable spirit of toleration spread over the Buddhist society, which, before this, had been so stirred up. There was no system so strange that it could not find a place in this great harmony. Indeed, it was only a sign of Amitabha’s endless grace that he had so many different kinds of “ vehicles” for suffering and struggling humanity, suited for each country and each individual’s need. It is no wonder, therefore, that from the T‘ien-t‘ai School there went forth a number of great men who each founded a school of hig own, which, however, did not come into conflict with the parent school. This was the case both in China and in Japan.’ The founders both of the Meditation School and of the “Pure Land” School in Japan came from this school. The emphasis which this school laid on literary studies could not fail to have a most beneficial influence on the lives of the monks; but, in this case, 10Cf. Professor A. K. Reischauer’s work: “Studies in Japanese Buddhism.” [53] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM as always, certain extravagances appeared. The fact that, in their zeal for copying the sutras and showing their earnestness, men sometimes opened a vein and wrote the holy books with their blood was a com- paratively innocent practice. More serious was the fact that certain ingenious brains began to make short cuts into the treasure-house of literature in a perfectly external and mechanical way. For example, a man would, at certain intervals, go up to the library hall to “fan ching” (# #). The object of this was to get the books “dusted through” in the simple mean- ing of the word. The monks sat with duster in hand and carefully dusted off the books, at the same time glancing at the writings here and there, as they turned the pages. This practice has continued down to the present day in certain places. Without really getting into the deeper thoughts, the monks gained a slight acquaintance with the great treasures of the libraries, and were, as the Germans would say, “ein Bischen litertirisch angehaucht.” The process became still more mechanical when the airing and dusting of the books was done by placing the whole of the Mahayana literature in an enormous cylindrical closet which revolved upon its own axis. The work of merit then consisted in keeping this in motion by means of a huge handle. In China at the present time one sees very little of this practice; but it continues in Japan up to our own day. Just as ‘The Lotus Scripture’ was the favourite work of the T‘ien-t‘ai School, the image of the typical [54] INNER DEVELOPMENT Buddha representing the doctrine became quite naturally its most popular “Fu.” The representative of the “doctrine” (dharma) is Vairocana (Chinese: P‘i-lu-ché-na, §2 Hf 3 3), and we meet this interesting Buddha-form constantly in the treatises and the ritual of the T‘ien-t‘ai School. One must not, however, judge the influence of this school by the number of monasteries and monks who take their name directly from T‘ien-t‘ai, for their number is small. The same is the case as with the Pure Land” School. The real power is seen in the tremendous influence which the T<ien-t‘ai School has exercised on the thought and practice of the earlier schools. One finds everywhere, both in ritual and in rules for living, a deep dependence on the teaching of the T“ien-t‘ai School. Indeed, even Ch‘an Tsung (the Meditation School), which should represent the very opposite standpoint from T‘ien-t‘ai, proved not to be entirely able to withstand its influence. From the T‘ien-t‘ai School have come forth not only deeply spiritual men, but also many rationalistic scholars. Some of their writings are considered by the older monks as positively dangerous. In Japan in recent years there have been formed groups who more or less openly oppose Chih-k‘ai’s five periods. They maintain that Sakyamuni Buddha can, at the most, be said to have merely hinted at Mahayana, while the original and certain way of salvation is given in Hinayana. It is, therefore, quite noteworthy that, in recent years, two fairly distinct schools of Hinayana have grown up in Japan. We [55] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM have nothing quite equivalent to this in China, although here, also, we see a few attempts in the same direction. One thing is certain. We shall very soon see a new critical school appear in China, also—a school from which we may hope to get specialists who can help the sinologues in the great and difficult work of sifting which the investigation of Mahayana requires. The most outstanding representative of this new movement is the very learned, religious, and energetic monk, T“ai-hsii (4 i), at present president of the Buddhist academy in Wuchang, and editor of the great magazine Hai Ch‘ao Yin (i 1 #). In closing this chapter, we may be permitted to give a Taoist-Buddhist story of Christ recently dis- covered by us at the Christian Mission to Buddhists at Ching-féng Shan (3% Ja i), Nanking. It will un- doubtedly shed a little more light upon some of the prob- lems now baffling us in our study of China’s religions.