A MIDNIGHT TALK
True religion is a relation, accordant with reason and knowledge, which
man establishes with the infinite life surrounding him, and it is such as
binds his life to that infinity, and guides his conduct.--TOLSTOY
One of the most instructive experiences I had during my rural journeys
occurred one night when I was staying at a country inn. At a late hour
I was told that the Governor of the prefecture was in a room overhead.
I had called on him a few days before in his prefectural capital. He
was a large daimyo-like figure, dignified and courteous, but seemingly
impenetrable. There was no depth in our talk. His aloof and
uncommunicative manner was deterring, but by this time I had learnt
the elementary lesson of unending patience and freedom from hasty
judgment that is the first step to an advance in knowledge of another
race. I felt that I should like to know more about the man inside this
Excellency. No one had told me anything of his life.
Now that he was in the same inn with me it was Japanese good manners
to pay him a visit. So I went upstairs with my travelling companion,
telling him on the way that we should not remain more than five
minutes. We were wearing our bath kimonos. The Governor was also at
his ease in one of these garments. He was kneeling at a low table
reading. We knelt at the other side, spoke on general topics, asked
one or two questions and began to take our leave. On this the Governor
said that he would like very much to ask me in turn some questions. We
spoke together until one in the morning, his Excellency continually
expressing his unwillingness for us to go. He spoke rapidly and with
such earnestness that I was balked of understanding what he said
sentence by sentence. The next day my companion wrote out a summary
of what the Governor had said and I had tried to say in reply. As a
brief report of a talk of three hours' duration it is plainly
imperfect. The artless account is of some interest, however, because
it furnishes an impression at once of an engaging simplicity and
sincerity in the Japanese character and of the pressure of Western
ideas.
_Governor_: "There have died lately my mother, my wife and one of my
daughters. Some of my officials come to me and ask what consolation I
am getting. What do I feel at first when such things happen? Am I
content under such misfortune? I feel that I should be happy if I
could believe something and tell it to them. I am tormented by the
conflict of my scientific and religious feelings. How is the relation
of science and religion in your mind? Are you tormented or are you
composed and peaceful even when meeting such misfortune as mine?"
_Myself_: "It is certain that it is not well to torment ourselves, for
grief is loss.[169] As to science, it did not drive away religion.
Science seeks after truth in all matters, but there are truths which
are to be searched out through our feeling, conscience and instinct.
Religion has to do with these truths. It is quite good for religion if
all superstition, dogma and ignorance are cleared away by science.
Concerning a future life, we are hampered in our thinking by our
traditions, prejudices, deep ignorance and poor mental strength and
training; and much energy is needed in the world for present service.
Some have thought of an immortality which is that a man's sincere
influence, his unselfish manifestations, those things which are the
essence of a man's existence, will live on; in other words, that the
best of a life is immortal; but not in the way of ghosts. As to the
memory, example and achievement of the dead it is sure that we are
aided by them."
_Governor_: "If we sacrifice ourselves for the public good it is the
best that we can do in this world. But are you composed at the sad
news concerning the _Lusitania_? If you think that event was directed
by divine destiny then you can be composed and may not complain."
_Myself_: "Such an accident may only be by divine destiny in the sense
that everything in this world, the saddest misery, the greatest
misfortunes, are suffered in the development of mankind, so that even
this War is unquestionably for the final betterment of the whole
world."
_Governor_: "Please say what is God."
_Myself_: "'If I could tell you what God is, I should be God myself.'
Many of my own countrymen have been taught that God is 'Spirit,
infinite, eternal, unchangeable in His Being, wisdom, power, holiness,
justice, goodness and truth.' There are those who would say that God
may be the total developing or bettering energy, and that we are all
part of God. Some people have a more personal conception of God, the
sum of all goodness. May not his Excellency consider the peasant's
idea of a Governor of a prefecture? The peasant's idea of a Governor
is greater than that of any particular Governor. His Excellency's good
works are not done by himself alone, but by all the good energies
inherent in the Governorship. Those energies are unseen but real. The
Japanese army and navy triumphed by the virtue of the Emperor--by the
virtue of ideas."
_Governor_: "The thought of _Sensei_[170] is quite Oriental."
_Myself_: "All religions are from Asia."
_Governor_: "This world where stars move, flowers blossom and decay,
spring and autumn come, and people are born and die is too full of
mystery, but I can feel some intelligence working through it though
incomprehensible."
_Myself_: "Alas, people will try to explain that
incomprehensibleness."
_Governor_: "What you have said is what I have been accepting to this
day. It satisfies my reason, but I feel in my heart something lacking.
I seek for a warmer interpretation of the world, for a more heartfelt
relation with cosmos. Several of my officials themselves lost their
dear children recently. They cannot with heart and brain accept their
loss, and they ask my direction."
_Myself_: "In the New Testament one thing is taught, God is Love. We
can be composed if we feel that God is love. The Gospel of John is the
most tender story in the world."
_Governor_: "It may be difficult for all people to come to the same
point and agree altogether. We must solve a great problem by
ourselves."
_Myself_: "We have opportunities of doing some good works in this
life. Therefore we must go on till we die and we must be content at
being able to do something good, directly or indirectly, in however
small measure. 'Earth is not as thou ne'er hadst been,' wrote an
Englishwoman poet of great scientific ability[171] who died while yet
a young woman."
_Governor_: "I think of Napoleon dying tormented on St. Helena, and
the peaceful attitude of Socrates though being poisoned by enemies.
But Socrates had done many good things, yet he was poisoned."
_Myself_: "Socrates had done what he could for his country and the
world, yet by his brave death he could add one thing more."[172]
The Governor said that he "got comfort from our talk," but this did
not perfectly reassure me. The next evening, however, I found a
parboiled Governor alone in the bath and he greeted me very warmly.
Without our interpreter we could say nothing that mattered, but we
were glad of this further meeting in the friendly hot water. It seemed
that our midnight talk would be memorable to both of us.
It is convenient to copy out here the following dicta on religion and
morals which were delivered to me at various times during my journeys:
A. "The weakest deterrent influence among us is, 'It is wrong.' A
stronger deterrent influence is, 'Heaven will punish you.' The
strongest deterrent influence of all is, 'Everybody will laugh at
you.'"
B. "In Japan all religions have been turned into sentiment or
æstheticism."
C. (_after speaking appreciatively of the ideas animating many
Japanese Christians_): "All the same I do not feel quite safe about
trusting the future of Japan to those people."
D. "We Japanese have never been spiritually gifted. We are neither
meditative and reflective like the Hindus nor individualistic like the
Anglo-Saxons. Nevertheless, like all mankind we have spiritual
yearnings. They will be best stirred by impulses from without."
E. (_in answer to my enquiry whether a Quakerism which compromised on
war, as John Brights male descendants had done, might not gain many
adherents in Japan_): "Other sects may have a smaller ultimate chance
than Quakerism. One mistake made by the Quakers was in going to work
first among the poorer classes. The Quakers ought to have begun with
the intellectual classes, for every movement in Japan is from the
top."
F. "You will notice what a number of the gods of Japan are deified
men. There is a good side to the earth earthy, but many Japanese seem
unable to worship anything higher than human beings. The readiest key
to the religious feeling of the Japanese is the religious life of the
Greeks. The more I study the Greeks the more I see our resemblance to
them in many ways, in all ways, perhaps, except two, our lack of
philosophy and our lack of physical comeliness."
G. "As to uncomeliness there are several Japanese types. The refined
type is surely attractive. If many Japanese noses seem to be too
short, foreigners' noses seem to us to be too long. The results of
intermarriage between Western people and Japanese who are of equal
social and educational status and of good physique should be closely
watched."
H. "In our schools an hour or two a week is reserved for culture, but
the true spirit of culture is lacking. The Imperial Rescript on
education is very good moral doctrine, but the real life's aim of many
of us is to be well off, to have an automobile, to become a Baron or
to extend the Empire. We do not ask ourselves, 'For what reason?'"
I. "I conduct certain classes which the clerks of my bank must attend.
The teaching I give is based on Confucian, Christian and Buddhist
principles. I try to make the young men more manful. I constantly urge
upon them that 'you must be a man before you can be a clerk.'"
J. (_a septuagenarian ex-daimyo_): "Confucianism is the basis of my
life, but twice a month I serve at my Shinto shrine and I conduct a
Buddhist service in my house morning and evening. It is necessary to
make the profession that Buddha saves us. I do not believe in
paradise. It is paradise if when I die I have a peaceful mind due to a
feeling that I have done my duty in life and that my sons are not bad
men. Unless I am peaceful on my deathbed I cannot perish but must
struggle on. Therefore my sons must be good. I myself strove to be
filial and I have always said to my sons, 'Fathers may not be fathers
but sons must be sons.'"
K. (_the preceding speaker's son expressing his opinion on another
occasion_): "My father as a Confucian is kind to people negatively. We
want to be kind positively because it is right to be kind. As to
filial obedience, even fathers may err; we are righteous if we are
right. My father is a Shintoist because it is our national custom. He
wants to respect his ancestors in a wide sense and he desires that
Japan, his family and his crops may be protected."
L. "I wish foreigners had a juster idea about 'idols'. There is a
difference between frequenters of the temples believing the figures to
be holy and believing them to be gods. Every morning my mother serves
before her shrine of Buddha but she does not believe our Buddha to be
God. She would not soil or irreverently handle our Buddha, but it is
only holy as a symbol, as an image of a holy being. My mother has said
to me, 'Buddha is our father. He looks after us always; I cannot but
thank him. If there be after life Buddha will lead me to Paradise.
There is no reason to beg a favour.' My mother is composed and
peaceful. All through her life she has met calamities and troubles
serenely. I admire her very much. She is a good example of how
Buddha's influence makes one peaceful and spiritual. But such
religious experience may not be grasped from the outside by
foreigners."
M. "When I am in a temple or at a shrine I realise its value in
concentrating attention. The daily domestic service before the shrine
in the house also ensures some religious life daily. Many of my
countrymen no doubt regard religion as superstition; they know little
of spiritual life. For some of them patriotism or humanitarian
sentiments or eagerness to seek after scientific truth takes the place
of religion. Most men think that they can never comprehend the cosmos
and say, 'We may believe only what we can prove. Let us follow not
after preachers but after truth.' I believe with your Western
philosophers who say that the cosmos is not perfect but that it is
moving towards perfection. Many think that this War shows that the
cosmos is not perfect. Spiritual life is living according to one's
purest consciousness. But what is of first importance is our actions.
It is not enough merely to strive after moral development. One must
strive after economic and social development. Some religious people
think only of the spiritual life and have no sympathy with economics.
The labours of such religious people must be of small value."
In later Chapters the views of other thoughtful Japanese are noted
down as they were communicated to me.
FOOTNOTES:
[169] "The strength that is given at such times arises not from
ignoring loss or persuading oneself that the thing is not that _is_,
but from the resolute setting of the face to the East and the taking
of one step forwards. Anything that detaches one, that makes one turn
from the past and look simply at what one has to do, brings with it
new strength and new intensity of interest."--HALDANE.
[170] Teacher, instructor, master, or a polite way of saying
"You"--the usual title by which I was addressed.
[171] Constance Naden.
[172] "The _Phaedo_ was bought for us by the death of
Socrates."--QUILLER COUCH.
[Illustration: THE BLIND HEADMAN AND HIS COLLECTING-BAG.]
[Illustration: MR. YANAGHITA IN HIS CORONATION CEREMONY ROBES.]
[Illustration: PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR RAISING WATER.]
[Illustration: VILLAGE SCHOOL WITH PORTRAIT OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.]
[Illustration: RIVER-BEDS IN THE SUMMER From which may be imagined
the power of the water in time of flood.]
THE ISLAND OF SHIKOKU