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The inviolable teachings concerning transmigration, and its orders, were axiomatic for the adherents of the “Pure Land,” and finally, everything led back to the historical Gotama Buddha, as the earthly founder and lord of the society. For this reason the school was able to carry on its fruitful work through several centuries without any break with the old order. [143] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM Its influence, however, was not limited to the nar- rower Buddhist circles. From the twelfth century on, one finds that literary production in China began to be touched by the new ideas. Thence its influence gradually spread to the field of art. The drama has always had a strong influence on the life of the Chinese people. It has been a means of transmitting ideas to the masses, who, in a way which seems quite incomprehensible to us Westerners, can pick up songs of enormous length from these theatrical programs, and recite them by heart. The school also worked directly on the great mass of people. Through the “Pure Land” School, that prayer began which down through the centuries has gathered the petitions of millions of people in East Asia in a common “Our Father.” It is the well- known prayer “Nan-mo O-mi-t‘o Fu, 1% 4% fh) 58 BE th (Japanese; Na-mo Amida Butsu: Korean: Na-mo Amida Pul). “I turn to Amitabha, in reverence and trust.” Like a great rush of water, this prayer ex- tends from South China up to Manchuria, from Japan and Korea to the borders of Siberia. All the soul’s need and longing, sighs of despair, and songs of praise and thanks are gathered up in this supplication. Buddhist monks greet one another with these words, laymen murmur them either sincerely or mechani- cally, both at work and at play. They appear as a refrain in the masses, they are repeated many thousand times a day during the procession round about through the corridors and halls of the temple. They are inscribed on stone tablets and engraved on [144] THE PURE LAND SCHOOL trinkets. They are written and printed in papers and books. Through the ‘Pure Land’s” great prayer, ‘“‘Nan-mo O-mi-t‘o Fu,” it is as if a great door were opened into the heart of the All-Father, to the “name above all names,’’—that name through which hope and salva- tion gleam upon the human race, that name through which every individual may find himself, and finally be absorbed into “Fu” (Buddha), indeed become “Fu” himself in the land of endless bliss, the “Para- dise of the West.” It is no wonder that this phrase came to be a synonym for personal honour and piety. How often in China have I heard a man who wishes to assure one _ that a certain person is especially pious and honest, say, “He is a regular O-mi-t‘o Fu,” and again comes the familiar gesture, the laying of his hand upon his heart! For everybody understands that when a man is in earnest about this prayer, it means that his con- science is in control of his life, it means that he has returned to his original nature, that he stands openly before the eye of ‘‘ Heaven.” For this reason, the word “O-mi-t‘o Fu’’ igs one of the most sacred terms in the consciousness of the people of eastern Asia, it is a bright guardian angel hovering over human souls, it is the holy reflection from the secret chambers of the life of conscience. It gathers within itself both the creator and the creature in harmonious reunion. Only when one keeps this clearly before the eye can one really begin to under- stand a little of the secret of Mahayana’s inner [145] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM meaning. One begins to see how it is possible that millions of the learned and unlearned through many centuries are never tired of using this name, meditating upon it by the hour together, reciting it even many thousand times a day. It is nothing less than the ancient unio mystica from the mystics of the church in the Middle Ages, which appears here again on the soil of Asia—that inner contemplation and merging of the self with God, the very soul of meditation. It is “to see light in God’s light.” It is for this reason that there are so many verses and poems from the time of the Ming dynasty which remind one quite strikingly of the holy meditations of Thomas 4 Kempis. We have already tried to point out some of the explanations of this phenomenon. In the first place, we stand here before one of the deepest well-springs of our common religious life—well-springs which are uncovered in the highest religions outside of Christian- ity also. (Cf. Sufism within Mohammedanism and the Bhakti movement within Hinduism, etc.) In the second place, the Nestorian Church had a chance to give Mahayana some of the golden nuggets of the Christian faith, just at the time when Mahayana was assuming its definite form in China. Mahayana’s conception of Amitabha was perhaps among those most influenced by the Christian ideas of God. This is apparent in no other school so unmis- takably as in the “Pure Land” School, And this school in its turn gives the best and highest representa- tion of Mahayana. For this reason, Mahayana’s favourite picture is used so often and with so much [146] THE PURE LAND SCHOOL feeling in the “Pure Land” School,—the picture of the great ship of mercy, manned by the All-Father and his two helpers, sailing over the “‘sea of sorrow” and rescuing all men in distress. As we have now touched upon more of the inner side of the “Pure Land” thought system and possibilities of spiritual fruit-bearing, it may be permitted to give some account of our experience in personal association with those who stand in the closest contact with this school. We think of the many thousands of monks, nuns, and lay folk who either in the monasteries or in private homes have consecrated themselves to the special worship and special study which the “Pure Land”’ School requires. It is only through these living human beings that one can come to any con- clusions regarding this school’s ability to form char- acter or minister spiritual strength and comfort for life’s battle and death’s pain. ‘The tree shall be known by its fruits.” This universal law must also hold good here if we are to arrive at a fair judgement in regard to this school. It is clear that a thorough and sincere investigation of these conditions will be of the greatest interest both for religio-philosophical research and for the man who from a Christian standpoint desires to gain a correct understanding of the matter. First of all one must realize that it is impossible to give a true answer to such questions after only a short visit in a monastery or temple or from chance associa- tion with Buddhists in their homes or in the streets. This is true of the Buddhist faith as a whole, but even [147] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM more true of the company of monks, nuns, and laymen who especially cultivate the ‘Pure Land’? movement. How often have we met these agitators, these cocksure free and easy judges, whom one so often hears or sees in print in connection with these matters! These expressions of opinion come usually either from god- less, materialistic travellers who after a hurried stay in a place send home dashing descriptions to the papers, or from those who in their misguided zeal for Christianity outstrip one another in demolishing every- thing that has to do with Buddhism. The truth of the matter is that if there is any place where one must not try to cut everything after one pattern it is just here. If one does this one commits just as great an injustice as if one should assert that all Christians are ‘‘rice Christians’? because there unfortunately are some who answer to this description. We shall in a later chapter give a more detailed account of the moral and religious life among Bud- dhists in general. Let us here merely point out the fact that in the large company of monks and nuns there are many bad elements, too, many unworthy members, who by their scandalous lives and their dull and mechanical religious practices, to a large degree bring the Buddhist religion into disrepute. This is true of the adherents of the “Pure Land” also. As one might expect, there are among them, no less than among other sects, light-minded individuals who, more or less consciously, “sin against grace,’ because they say that Amitabha in his boundless mercy will cer- tainly know how to save them, no matter how bad [148] THE PURE LAND SCHOOL their lives may be. One finds here, just ag one occasionally finds in the homelands in “ultra- evangelical” circles, a curious laxity with regard to ethical demands, even while men cling to an imperfect conception of faith and grace. It cannot be denied either that some of the “Pure Land” adherents, in their contempt for the old formalistic systems, have become “free-thinkers”’ to such an extent that they disregard the most elemen- tary things in the moral order of the world. Herein lies the deepest ground for the quite strong reaction which in the last two centuries has arisen against the “Pure Land” party from the more legalistic schools. A good many of the “fathers’’ in the Buddhist society saw with increasing disquiet how many of the “Pure Land’s” spokesmen explained away or rewrote the old objective basis. It seemed to them that nothing was certain any longer. Everything was being spirit- ualized. The historical Buddha became principally an enlightened man, who had only a historical interest. Indeed, Amitabha himself became often only an idea, a spiritual figure of speech who was dissolved in abstractions when one really tried to set forth his nature. The same was the case with the other Buddhas and the two assistant figures in the trinity. They became simply personifications of the various sides of the Absolute nature.