The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

AN ESSAY ON JAPANESE RELIGIONS. 145
" The difEereiicc," Doctor Bronson explained, " is about the same as
that between tlio Iloinan Catholic faith and that of the Protestants. As
I xmderstand it—but I confess that I am not quite clear on the subject
Shintoism is the result of a reforma-
tion of the Buddhist religion, just as
our Protestant belief is a reforma-
tion of Catliolicism.
" Kow, if 3'ou want to study
Buddhism," he continued, " I luust
refer you to a work on the relig-
ions of the world, or to an encyclo-
pedia, as we have no time to go into
a religious dissertation, and, besides,
our lunch might be spoiled while we
were talking. And another reason
why we ought not to enter deeply
into the subject is that I should find
it impossible to make a clear exposi-
tion of the principles of the Bud-
dhist faith or of Shintoism ; and if
you pressed me too closely, I might
Ijecome confused. The religions of
the East are very difficult to com-
prehend, and I have known men who had lived twenty years in China
or India, and endeavored to study the forms and principles of the relig-
ions of those countries, who t-onfessed their inability to understand them.
For my own part, I must admit that when I have listened to explanations
by Japanese, or other people of the East, of their religious faith, I have
lieard a great deal that I could not comprehend. I concede their sinceri-
ty ; and when they say .there is a great deal in our forms of worship that
they do not understand, I believe they are telling the truth. Uur ways of
thought are not their ways, and what is clear to one is not at all so to an-
other.
" I have already told yoir of the overthrow of the Shogoon, or Tycoon,
and the return of the Mikado to power as the ruler of all the country.
The Shogoon and his family were adherents of Buddhism, while the ]\[ika-
do's followers were largel}' of the Shinto faith. When the Mikado's pow-
er was restored, there was a general demand on the part of the Sliintoists
that the Buddhist temples should be destroyed and the religion effaced.
A good number of temples were demolished, and the government took
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A HlGII-PRIE.Sr IN FULL COSTUiME.