_ 8 Light of Asia_, i. 142, and vi. 688.
_ 9 Lectures on Buddhism_, pp. 62-3.
_ 10 Legends and Theories of the Buddhists_, p. 187.
11 Prof. Max Müller, however (_Hibbert Lectures_, 1878, p. 134 note),
gives weighty reasons for regarding 477 B.C. as the year of Buddha’s
death.
12 “The Buddhists look upon the Bo-tree as most Christians have looked
upon the Cross.”—Rhys Davids’ _Buddhism_, p. 37 note.
13 It is, no doubt, owing largely to the influence of Buddhism that the
passion of _anger_ is almost unknown in Japan. In the same way, a
Japanese, though the heart were well-nigh breaking, would consider
it a most unworthy thing to let his grief betray itself.
14 Miss Isabella Bird (Mrs. Bishop), authoress of _Unbeaten Tracks in
Japan_, well describes the impression produced on the spectator by
the Daibutsus, or colossal images of Buddha, so common in Japan:—“He
is not sleeping, he is not waking, he is not acting, he is not
thinking, his consciousness is doubtful; he exists,—that is all; his
work is done, a hazy beatitude, a negation remain. This is the
Nirvana in which the devout Buddhist may aspire to participate.”
The Daibutsu at Kamakura, of which an illustration is given
opposite, is one of the largest in Japan. It is fifty feet high,
and, as a work of art, is without a rival. The boss protruding from
the forehead is supposed to represent a jewel, and to symbolize
Illumination.
_ 15 History of the Jewish Church_, Vol. iii, Lecture xlv.
16 This is scarcely less true of Christianity; and it _must_ be true,
in some measure, of every religious system which attempts to
minister to the needs of beings, so differently constituted, and so
dissimilarly circumstanced, as are the members of the human race. As
we proceed in this chapter to refer to the various schools of
Buddhism and their characteristics, we can hardly fail to have
suggested to us, more than once, those different aspects of
Christianity, which have been the occasion of all our “schools of
thought,” and, alas, of how many of our divisions!
17 Those who would investigate the subject further are referred to
Alabaster’s _The Modern Buddhist_ (Trübner, 1870).
18 For it is men only who inhabit this Celestial Region: women, worthy
of attaining to it, have changed their sex.
_ 19 Jodo_ means the “Pure Land.”
20 Avalokitesvara=“The Lord who looks down from heaven.” The female
form taking the place of the male is, no doubt, due to the idea of
the woman’s being supposed to be the more compassionate nature; just
as, too often in the Christian Church, the Blessed Mother has, for a
like reason, been made to encroach upon the prerogatives of her
Divine Son. Instances are recorded of the Chinese, when conversing
with Europeans, giving the name of _Kwanyin_ to the statues of the
Blessed Virgin in the Roman Churches. (Davis’ _The Chinese_, chap,
xiv.)
21 I have not thought it necessary in this little volume to introduce
the subject of Confucianism. Even in China it is less a religion
than a system of philosophy—political, social, moral. It may,
however, be remarked that the writings of Confucius are highly
esteemed in Japan, and that, in the past at any rate, they have had
a considerable influence in forming the thought and character of its
people. The ethics of Confucius being materialistic, i.e. concerned
with the things of this present life, and the Buddhist ethics being
mainly spiritualistic, the two mutually supplement each other. The
great Confucian Temple at Yeddo was until 1868 the chief University
of Japan. Now,—so entirely have the Western systems of education
supplanted the teaching of the Chinese sage,—the building has been
converted into a Museum.