A Handbook of Modern Japan

by Ernest W. Clement

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

See Rein’s “Japan,” Peery’s “Gist of Japan,” Cary’s “Japan and its Regeneration,” Knapp’s “Feudal and Modern Japan,” and Lowell’s “Soul of the Far East,” pp. 162-193. But especially valuable are “The Religions of Japan” (Griffis), “The Development of Religion in Japan” (Knox), “Occult Japan” (Lowell), Hearn’s works, and papers by Sir Ernest Satow and Dr. Florenz in Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vols. ii., iii. (App.), vii., ix., xxvii. These references are, of course, on the general subject of Shintō rather than the special topic of this chapter.

Aston’s “Shintō: The Way of the Gods” (1905) is, of course, most excellent. Hozumi’s “Ancestor-Worship and Japanese Law” is very valuable.

CHAPTER XVIII
CONFUCIANISM, BUSHIDŌ, BUDDHISM

Outline of Topics: Confucianism; “Five Relations”; Bushidō; influences of Confucianism and Bushidō.—Buddhism; general view; chief sects; Tendai sect; Shingon sect; Zen sect; Jōdo sect; Shin sect; Nichiren sect; New Buddhism; influences of Buddhism; corruption of Buddhism; control of cemeteries; mixed sects.—Relations of Shintō, Confucianism, and Buddhism.—Religious toleration.—Bibliography.

THE philosophical teachings of Confucius were very popular in Japan among the educated classes, who, caring little for religion, were content to supplement Shintō with Confucianism. Its moral code undoubtedly proved beneficial to Japan in many respects; but now it is practically superseded by the doctrines of Western atheistic, agnostic, and materialistic philosophy.

The “five relations” (gorin), around which clustered the Confucian ethical code, were those of Father and Son, Ruler and Ruled, Husband and Wife, Elder and Younger Brothers, and Friends. In China, “filial piety,” the great virtue of the first relation, was the foundation of the whole system; but in Japanese Confucianism this was relegated to the second place, and “loyalty,” the great virtue of the second relation, was put first. The scope of this relation, moreover, was quite wide; it included not only the relation between the sovereign and his subjects, but also that between a lord and his retainers, and even that between any master and servants. The virtue of the third relation was known as “distinction,” which practically meant that each should know and keep his or her own place; that of the fourth relation was “order,” which insisted upon the primacy of seniority in age; and between friends the typical virtue was “faith,” or “trust,” or “confidence.”

The word Bushidō means, literally, “The Warrior’s Way,” which was the code of ethics that prevailed in Feudal Japan, and whose influence is still felt, although waning, in Modern Japan. It was the moral code of Japanese chivalry, of the knight and of the gentleman. It has not inaptly been styled “Japonicized Confucianism,” for it was chiefly Confucian in its constitution. But it gathered elements from Shintō and Buddhism: from the latter it received fatalism (Stoicism); and from the former it received loyalty and patriotism, which meant practically the same thing. It ignored personal chastity (except in women); it encouraged suicide and revenge; but it emphasized justice, courage, benevolence, politeness, veracity, honor, and self-control. One of its most powerful principles was giri (right reason), which is difficult to translate or define, but comes pretty close to what we call “duty” or “the right.” This still maintains a potent influence in New Japan, and often accounts for erratic procedures. Indeed, so-called peculiarities of the Japanese cannot be understood without a knowledge of Bushidō, which has been analyzed in a flattering manner in Dr. Nitobe’s book, entitled “Bushidō, the Soul of Japan.”

Inasmuch as the influence of Confucianism in Japan was chiefly manifested through Bushidō, to be correct, we ought to speak of their joint influences. But since Bushidō, as we have just seen, was largely Confucianism, slightly modified to suit the needs of the Japanese spirit (Yamato-damashii), we shall, for convenience, follow other writers in using the term “Confucianism.” Rein testifies that in Japan “widely diffused religious indifference and formal atheism are the consequences” of the pursuit of Confucianism. Chamberlain says that “during the two hundred years that followed, the whole intellect of the country was moulded by Confucian ideas.” Griffis bears similarly strong testimony, and emphasizes the fact that “all Japanese social, official, intellectual, and literary life was permeated with the new spirit of Confucian thought.” It is not strange, therefore, that when Japan was opened to the world, and Occidental learning and literature poured in, the materialism and the agnosticism of the West met with a sympathetic reception.

GROUP OF PILGRIMS, AND BUDDHIST PRIESTS

Buddhism is the accepted faith of the great mass of the Japanese people. It was introduced into Japan from Korea, in the sixth century A. D., and spread rapidly. It is now divided in Japan into eight sects, with various sub-sects, which bring the grand total up to about thirty-five. These sects vary, some in doctrines and others in rituals, and are even quite hostile to each other. The Shin sect deserves, perhaps, a special mention; because it opposes celibacy and asceticism, does not restrict the diet, worships only one Buddha, and preaches salvation by faith. It is often called “the Protestantism of Buddhism.” Buddhist temples are usually magnificent structures, and the ritual is elaborate; but, in spite of the assistance of Colonel Olcott, Sir Edwin Arnold, and others, it is fast losing ground. It has degenerated and become idolatry and superstition. It keeps hold of the ignorant masses, and even of intelligent persons, chiefly because it has control of funeral rites and cemeteries. It has been said that a Japanese is a Shintōist in life and a Buddhist at death; and it is also true that he may be during life, at one and the same time, a devotee of both. Buddhism may suffice for a people who are crushed under an Oriental despotism; but Christianity alone is the religion of liberty and progress. Buddha may be “the light of Asia,” but Jesus Christ is “the light of the world.”

Nanjō, the historian of Japanese Buddhism, has written a “History of the Twelve Japanese Buddhist Sects”; but as some of these are now defunct, it is sufficient to notice here only eight principal sects, as follows: Tendai, Shingon, Zen, Jōdo, Shin, Nichiren, Ji, Yuzu Nembutsu. Moreover, as the last two of these are comparatively insignificant, the mere mention of their names is enough, but a little more should be said concerning each of the other six.

1. The Tendai sect is the oldest, but now ranks among the lowest. It belongs to the school which “sought to define truth and to find salvation in knowledge”: but as the truth was often too abstruse for the mass, it must be dealt out, by means of pious devices, according to the ability of the learner; so that the disciples of this sect have been called the Jesuits of Buddhism.

2. To the same school belongs the Shingon sect, which is only a year younger than the former sect and now ranks third in the list. It was founded by the celebrated priest Kōbō Daishi; and its doctrines also are quite abstruse. This is the sect which is responsible for that mixing of Shintō and Buddhism that prevailed for so many centuries by the adoption of Shintō deities into the Buddhist pantheon. These believers are sometimes called the Gnostics of Buddhism.

3. The Zen sect represents the school which teaches that “abstract contemplation leads to a knowledge of saving truth.” “Look carefully within, and there you will find the Buddha.” This sect arose probably “out of a reaction against the multiplication of idols,” and was “a return to simpler forms of worship and conduct”; therefore its disciples have been called “the Quakers of Japanese Buddhism.” Others call them “the Japanese Quietists” or “the Japanese Mystics.” This is now the largest Buddhist sect.

4. A third school, teaching that salvation was to be obtained only through the works of another, has been represented by two sects, the Jōdo and the Shin. The former, which now ranks fourth, was founded upon a very simple doctrine, with an easy rule of life, that is, the frequent repetition of the invocation Namu Amida Butsu, “Hail to Amida the Buddha.” These Buddhists use a double rosary.

5. The Shin sect,[157] which sprung out of the Jōdo sect, is that of the Japanese Reformers or Protestants. In numerical strength it is second to the Zen sect, but in real power and influence it is facile princeps. Its priests are allowed to marry, and to eat flesh and fish. It teaches that morality is as important as faith; or, in quite familiar words, that “faith without works is dead.” It is monotheistic, as it worships only one Buddha. It alone of all Buddhist sects provides a way of salvation for women. It upholds a high standard of education, carries on vigorous missions in China and Korea, and has priests even in America.

6. The sect founded by the priest Nichiren and named for him is not large, but very radical and influential. In their controversial and uncompromising attitude toward other religions or even other sects of Buddhism, the disciples of the “fiery Nichiren” have been called “the Jesuits of Buddhism.” Their invocation is Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō (Hail to the Doctrine of the Lotus of the Wonderful Law). Their doctrine is complete pantheism; as Dr. Griffis expresses it, Nichiren “was destined to bring religion, not only down to men, but even down to the beasts and the mud.”

Of all these sects, the only one which has been appreciably influenced by contact with Western civilization and conflict with Christianity is the Shin sect. One type of New Buddhism tries to ally itself with the doctrines of scientific evolution. Another type has learned lessons from Christian activity in Japan, and is putting forth its energies in the direction of philanthropic and educational institutions; so that it has its hospitals, magazines, schools, and, to balance the Young Men’s Christian Association, its Young Men’s Buddhist Association, with summer schools, etc. The New Buddhism will die hard.

The influence of Buddhism upon the Japanese people must not be underestimated, especially because it is still manifest, to a high degree, even in New Japan. Chamberlain says:[158] “All education was for centuries in Buddhist hands, as was the care of the poor and sick; Buddhism introduced art, introduced medicine, moulded the folk-lore of the country, created its dramatic poetry, deeply influenced politics and every sphere of social and intellectual activity. In a word, Buddhism was the teacher under whose instruction the Japanese nation grew up.” Or, as Griffis outlines it,[159] the Buddhist missionaries were purveyors of civilization, ministers of art, wielded a mighty influence in military and political affairs, transformed the manners and customs, inspired a tremendous development in education and literature; but Buddhism was “kind to the brute and cruel to man,” neglected charity and philanthropy, degraded woman, and left upon the Japanese character the blight of a merciless fatalism and an awful pessimism.[160] It created “habits of gentleness and courtesy” and a “spirit of hopeless resignation.” To sum up, “in a word, Buddhism is law, but not gospel.”

At present, Buddhism in Japan is exceedingly corrupt, is losing its hold upon the educated, but retains a tremendous influence over the great mass of the people. The majority of the priests are ignorant, illiterate, and immoral, “blind leaders of the blind.” The newspapers of the day are unsparing in their denunciation of the immoralities of the priesthood. The following is only one of many such testimonies by ex-priests: “Something that did trouble me was the growing conviction that Buddhism was dead, that it had reached the extremity of corruption. Strife and scandal were rife everywhere. The chief priests ... were grasping after worldly place and prosperity. Of the immorality of the priests it makes me blush to speak. It is not a rare thing to see men with shaven heads and attired in black garments wandering about in prostitute quarters, or to find women living in temples, or to discover fish-bones thrown among the graves.... The religion has no rallying power left, no inner life.... It has contributed much to our civilization in the past, but it is now exhausted.”

One element of the strong hold which Buddhism had and has upon the people, even upon the educated classes, is the fact that so many cemeteries have been and are connected with Buddhist temples. It used to be a frequent saying that a Japanese was a Shintōist in life and a Buddhist in death; because, though he may never have espoused Buddhism, he might be laid away in his grave according to Buddhist ceremonies in a Buddhist temple and a Buddhist graveyard. But this control of the cemeteries seems to be passing out of Buddhist hands into the care of the local civil authorities. And this secularization, if it may be so called, of the graveyards not only abolishes the Buddhist monopoly, but also takes away from the priests the golden opportunity of extorting immense fees. The Buddhist control of cemeteries has often been a source of great embarrassment to Christians, who were frequently compelled to bury their dead under Buddhist auspices. But there have lately been cases where no objection was made to the burial of Christians with Christian rites in a Buddhist graveyard.

This is, perhaps, the most suitable place to devote just a few words to those sects which are comparatively modern in their origin, and are so composite in their doctrine that they cannot be classed under either Shintō or Buddhism. Indeed, they even show traces, though perhaps slight, of Christian teaching; and they all agree in the one doctrine of faith healing. These are Remmon-kyō (Doctrine of the Lotus-Gate),[161] Kurozumi-kyō (Doctrine of Kurozumi, name of founder),[162] and Tenrikyō (Doctrine of Heavenly Reason).[163] The first and the last were founded by ignorant peasant women, and win adherents mostly among the lowest classes. The first seems more Buddhist than Shintō; the second seems more Shintō than Buddhist; while the third is the one which shows most plainly traces of Christian influence. In Kurozumi-kyō, the Sun-goddess is the chief object of devotion, because the founder was healed by worshipping the rising sun. Tenrikyō is growing rapidly, and is exclusive and intolerant.

The eclecticism of the Japanese in intellectual matters may be explained by calling attention to one phase of their attitude toward the three cults of Old Japan. There was in general a feeling of “with malice toward none, with charity for all”; for the three, to a greater or less degree, overlapped or supplemented each other.[164] Shintō, as we have seen, was only a national cult; Confucianism was a philosophy of the relations between man and man; while Buddhism was a true religion, with ideas about sin and salvation. As another has summed up the scope of these three “ways,” “Shintōism furnishes the object of worship, Confucianism offers the rules of life, and Buddhism supplies the way of future salvation.” It was, therefore, possible for a person to be a disciple of two, or even all, of these “doctrines” at one and the same time. He “had constantly before his eyes the emblems of each of these religions. In nearly every Samurai’s house were the moral books of Confucius, the black lacquered wooden tablets, inscribed in gold with the Buddhist names of his ancestors, while on the god-shelf stood the idols and symbols of Shintō.”

Therefore there are to-day probably thousands of Japanese who would readily accept Christianity by simply adding the image of Jesus to their present collection, and giving it equal honor with those of Buddha and their ancestors. They might easily incorporate Jehovah in their pantheon; but they find difficulty in appreciating the intolerance of Christians in having “no other gods besides” Jehovah.