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.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The references for this chapter are in general the same as those for the preceding chapter, except that, in place of the special papers on Shintō, should be substituted special papers on Confucianism by Knox and Haga in Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xx. pp. 1-192; on Buddhism, by Lloyd in Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xxii. pp. 337-506, and in “Every Day Japan”; and Nitobe’s “Bushidō, the Soul of Japan.”