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He sees all, must see all, from one aspect only and that is in the light of the “One, eternal in time, in light, and in mercy,” Amitabha. | [155] % TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM This brings with it a firm and glowing faith and a great inner joy. As has already been mentioned, there are those in the “Pure Land” party who have wholly misunderstood its philosophy, or not taken it seriously and therefore “‘sin against grace.” Some are lost in disintegrating atheism. But there is also quite a considerable body of monks, nuns, and lay Buddhists who throughout their lives show that they are inspired with a pure and strong spiritual power so that they not only become good and pious people, but also are a help and blessing to society in general. We have met them not only in Japan, where a really admirable philanthropic work, with Sunday schools, young peoples’ associations, prisons associations, orphanages, etc., is carried on by the “Pure Land” School, but in China also. The monks whose philanthropic activities have recently attracted public attention have all come from this school. Many of China’s leading men of letters at the present time, men who have studied abroad and are now taking part in the social and national renaissance, have drawn their religious inspiration from the doctrines of the “Pure Land” School. It may well be the case that some of these were awakened to a real understanding of this teaching for the first time by coming into contact with Christianity. It may be that the “Pure Land” philanthropy and stress upon genuine spirituality began to make real headway only after modern missionary work was beginning to make itself felt. The fact remains, how- ever, that of all the Buddhist schools, the “Pure [156] THE PURE LAND SCHOOL Land” alone had the spiritual qualifications needed to emulate Christianity. In Japan it is not easy for the people to accept Christianity since national considerations are an important factor and consequently the power of judgement is perverted. The same has been the case to a considerable extent in China also. At the begin- ning of the modern era, the famous “Pure Land” abbot, Chu-hung (#k #), in the Yiin-ch‘i Monastery (2 # ) near Hangchow, opposed, in several well- written letters, the well-known missionary veteran of the Roman Church, Matteo Ricci. Finding that Christianity was very much like the “Pure Land” faith, he thought it his duty to warn the people not to be deeeived by this heretical and corrupt form of religion. During the last years of the Ming dynasty the same attitude was taken by one of the famous Buddhist devotees, Hsi-ming ($3 Bi). The Catechism of the Pure Land” doctrine, called “‘Chiien Hsiu Chingt‘u Ch‘ieh-yao (#) 1& # 4: BW 3), reprinted many times during the last four centuries, quotes Hsi-ming under the significant heading, “When worshipping Buddha beware of heresy.” The text runs as follows: ‘¢Worshipping Buddha is the only great and right way of salvation. Although one may feel that this worship is rather easy and commonplace, still the religion here spoken of [Chingt‘u] is absolutely perfect. But passing through the various steps it may be found that it is not altogether easy. It is to be feared that [157] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM men and women with stupid minds having trodden the first half of the road will become lazy and finally give up in disgust, being deceived into joining the Catholic Church (T‘ien-chu, * =) or some other outside sect, having come to the conclusion that the ‘Pure Land’ doctrine is false. In this way they commit the great sin during life, and after death pass into hell. How deplorable! What a pity! For this reason, I respect- fully exhort all who call on the name of Buddha to keep on with a sincere heart, and thus gradually attain to the point when the heart cannot be disturbed any more, when the lotus-blossom will unfold itself, and the heart see Buddha. I exhort you most urgently to break off all relations with these spirits of darkness and not to pray to these gods: then your thoughts will not be bewildered by vain aspirations, in which there is not only no gain, but great harm.” The fact that Hsi-ming felt it his duty to warn - against the Christian church indicates that not a few of the “Pure Land” people at that time were not only familiar with Christian doctrine, but also somewhat attracted to it. In fact, from the time of the Nestorian Church down through the centuries of missionary activi- ties by the Roman Catholics, we meet with Buddhists, who openly oppose Christianity and exhort the people to distinguish between the two religions. Why should they do so if not driven by the feeling that Christian thoughts and ideas were a threatening force? That many people outside the church knew the fundamental ideas of Christianity at the time of K‘ang Hsi (ca. A.D. 1700) is incontestable. This is [158] THE PURE LAND SCHOOL shown by the discovery of the touching story of Christ and His holy Virgin Mother found in the ‘‘Shén- hsien Kang-chien.””! Coming back to the attitude of Buddhists towards Christianity to-day, I have often met with this same point of view among the modern adherents of the “Pure Land.” It is noteworthy that among such there has been a greater willingness to admit that the strength of Christianity is to be found in the incontrovertible historicity of the main facts of the life of Christ. The fact that Buddhists are following Christianity with growing attention is shown not least in the newer magazines which the “Pure Land” School in particular are publishing.’ In this connection it is interesting to recall the extensive survey of systems of salvation which was issued by the monk Chi-yiian, over three hundred years ago. The book is called “ Wan-fa Kuei Hsin Lu (% %& Bi t> 2k). “All systems unite in the religion of the heart.” We must here call attention to the fact that a great number of nuns may be counted in the “ Pure Land” party. A consideration not only of the essential nature of womanhood but also of the miserable social conditions in which a great many of them live, shows how natural this is. They have a feeling that they are in especial need of mercy if they are to be saved. Few are sufficiently educated to acquire all the book learning that is necessary to enter the other schools. 10f. Chap. II. oe 2Of. the paper, the Hastern Buddhists, begun in 1921, published in Kyoto, Japan. [159] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM For them the “Pure Land’s”’ short-cut to salvation is more than welcome. Many devote themselves with touching earnestness to the “invocation of the name,” and there is no doubt that numbers of them are saved from the deepest vice and a life of degradation, by faith in Amitabha’s grace. When, however, one remembers the conditions from which most of these nuns have come, it is not to be wondered at that there are many backslidings, and that now and then black shadows are thrown on the Buddhist society as a whole and the “Pure Land” party in particular, by failures in the nuns’ quarters. At the same time among the initiated it is a well-known fact that great philanthropic zeal, generous self-sacrifice, and victorious and happy deaths are often heard of in these same nunneries. Among the ordinary people there are also large numbers of women who carry on Buddhist practices of piety with zeal in their own homes and occasionally in the convents. There is no doubt that the largest proportion of money gifts comes to the society through women. Mothers and older women, in particular, who begin to feel that deep mother-yearning and family grief which is so characteristic of the more mature women of China, take refuge in large numbers in the temples. The monks often become quite intimate with them, and from these conditions very unfortunate complications often result. Widows bear a special burden of care for their deceased husbands or children, and, since there is no school in the Buddhist society which lays such emphasis on the masses for the dead or has such a [160] THE PURE LAND SOHOOL well-developed method of salvation as the “Pure Land,” it is natural that they go thither. Here every year there is a special mass of forty-nine days, plus one, for the redemption of the lost souls in hades (which, as has been described before, reveals evidence of direct copying from the Nestorian Church with its fifty days of prayer for the living and the dead). In Kiangsu and Chekiang provinces where the ‘Pure Land” monasteries and temples are numerically strongest, enormous numbers of women gather together every year on this occasion. If one wishes to establish the fact that a certain monastery or temple belongs to the “Pure Land” School, it is necessary to go to the great temple hall. If one there sees the triune Buddha represented standing, it is certain that it is under the care of the ‘‘Pure Land” branch. The group then will consist of Amitabha in the centre, with his right hand out- stretched and his left hand enclosing a lotus-blossom or a small pagoda, and Kuan-yin and Ta-shih-chih, on the left and right side, respectively. The two last resemble each other very much, each often holding a lotus in one hand while the other hand hangs loose at the side. In other cases, Kuan-yin may hold her famous jar from which she pours out her life-giving water over mankind (kan-lu shui, H # 7k), while Ta- shih-chih has a lotus leaf with a stalk in his hand. In the famous old Ling-yin Sst (# && =#, Monastery Under the Spirits’ Shadow) near Hangchow, I found a group which forcibly attracted my attention. The monastery, with its enormous temple hall, is being [161] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM restored at present.