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BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 415
BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
The ethics of Kosi (Confucius), introduced in the sixth century with all the
accompanying Chinese ceremonial, exercised, as in China itself, a preponderating
influence on the political and social institutions of the country, but it in no sense
offers the character of a religion properly so called. The Se'ido, or " Halls of
Holiness," are rather assembly rooms for the learned than true temples, and the
great Seido of Suruga-da'i at Tokio has already been converted into a library for
European, Chinese, and Japanese works. Buddhism, however, has preserved its
sway over a large section of the community, notwithstanding the suppression of
some monasteries, the conversion of bells into copper coinage, and the forcible trans-
formation of numerous temples into Sinto sanctuaries. Introduced apparently about
the middle of the sixth century, the worship of Shaka (Buddha) had the advantage
of being identified in the minds of its adherents with Western civilisation, for with
it came the writings, arts, and sciences of India. It also attracted the people by its
pompous ceremonial, by the dogmas of transmigration and final redemption, and by
the infinite variety of its gods and saints, amongst whom it eagerly hastened to
make room for the shades of the great national heroes. Since its establishment
Japanese Buddhism, almost entirely cut off from all communication with the
Buddhist world on ihe mainland, has become divided into numerous sects, some
claiming to have preserved the old faith in its purity, while others have become
modified by the sanction of new revelations. But all had long lost the knowledge
of the language in which the sacred books had been written, and it is only quite
recently that, at the repeated suggestion of Max Miiller, bodzes educated in the
West have at last discovered in the temples of Nip-pon some precious Sanskrit
writings hitherto supposed to have perished. The type of some Hindu idols has
also been preserved from the time of the early missionaries, neither sculptors nor
workers in metal venturing to modify the traditional forms.
Of the sects by far the most popular is that which, under her thirty-three
different images, worships Kannon, the Kwanyin of the Chinese, "Goddess of
Mercy with her thousand helping hands." According to the census of 1875, the
seven principal Buddhist sects possess between them no less than 88,000 temples,
while, the Sintoists have over 120,000, many, however, of which are used in
common by both religions, a simple bamboo screen separating the two altars. The
" prayer mills," so universal in Tibet, are rarely found in the Japanese temples,
although the devout are incessantly muttering the name of Buddha. They also
write their prayers on scraps of paper, which they roll up in little pellets, to pelt
the idols, and thus obtain their petitions through the efficacy of the divine contact.
The inside of the statues is sometimes crammed with these papers, or else boxes
are set going on which are inscribed the words " ten thousand prayers." The
brooks and streams are also by some simple contrivances transformed to " flowing
invocations."
The Shin-shiu, or " New Sect," founded by Shiiiran-shonin in the thirteenth
century, probably ranks next in importance and influence. It differs in many