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Presented to
THE LIBRARY

of
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Toronto
by

Leslie G. Kilborn

KIUBORJS

LG.

THE NEW TESTAMENT OF
HIGHER BUDDHISM

THE NEW TESTAMENT

HIGHER BUDDHISM

TIMOTHY RICHARD, D.D., LITT.D.

ENGLISH BAPTIST MISSION, CHINA

EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET

1910

1453

Cop- 1

Printed by
MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED,

FOR
T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.

LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED.
NKW YORK I CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.

62535

CONTENTS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

CHAP. PAGK

I. WHY PUBLISH A NEW BOOK ON BUDDHISM ! . 1

II. INTERCOMMUNICATION BETWEEN EAST AND WEST

IN ANCIENT TIMES ..... 4

III. THE LEADING OF GOD IN CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS

MOVEMENTS ...... 7

IV. SOME PROMINENT TEACHERS AND TRANSLATORS OF

THE NEW BUDDHISM .... 9

V. BUDDHIST TRINITIES . . . . .12

VI. KWANYIN, THE SO-CALLED GODDESS OF MERCY . 16

VII. Two STRIKING SETS OF Vows . . .23

VIII. THE DEIFICATION OF SAKYAMUNI, THE ATHEIST ! . 25

IX. THE INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM . . .27

X. THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE . 33

XL RELIGIOUS ART ... .36

INTRODUCTION TO THE AWAKENING OF FAITH

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION . . . .37

TRANSLATOR'S SYNOPSIS 53

vi CONTENTS

III
TRANSLATION OF THE AWAKENING OF FAITH

CHAP. PAGE

OPENING HYMN . . . . .65

I. REASONS FOR WRITING THE BOOK . . .65

II. THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINE OF THE NEW

BUDDHISM — THE MAHAYANA FAITH . . 68

III. EXPOSITION OF THE FAITH . . . .69

IV. THE PRACTICE OF THE FAITH . . .111
V. THE ADVANTAGES OF THE FAITH . . . 123

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE LOTUS SCRIPTURE

I. ITS IMPORTANCE ..... 127

II. HISTORY OF THE TEXT . . . 128

III. WHY TRANSLATE IT AGAIN? . . 128

IV. ORDER OF CHAPTERS . . . . .130
V. APOSTOLIC AND PATRISTIC APOLOGETICS . .130

VI. MODERN APOLOGETICS . . . 132

VII. VALUE OF COMPARATIVE RELIGION . . . 134

VIII. PRESENT NEED— ORGANISED CO-OPERATION. . 143

TRANSLATION OF THE ESSENCE OF THE LOTUS SCRIPTURE
PROLOGUE — EVERLASTING LIFE

I. ITS CHARACTER . . . . .147

II. ITS TEACHING ... . 150

III. ITS EFFECTS . 153

CONTENTS vii

THE LOTUS SCRIPTURE ESSENCE

CHAP. PAQ1

I. INTRODUCTORY . . . , .159

II. THE ART OF SAVING THE WORLD . 16G

III. ALLEGORIES . . . . .170

IV. FAITH [BASED ON FATHERHOOD] . . .173
V. MEDICINAL PARABLES . . . .174

VI. THE RECORD OF THE MESSAGE . . . 175

VII. PARABLE OF THE ETERNAL CITY. . . 178

VIII. [THE FIVE HUNDRED DISCIPLES] . .180

IX. THE SIMPLE MADE WISE . . . .182

X. THE SPIRITUAL GUIDE . . . ,183

XL GOD'S DWELLING-PLACE — PAGODA . .189

XII. THE CONVERTED PERSECUTOR . . .193

XIII. "HOLD FAST" . ... 197

XIV. PEACE AND JOY ..... 200
XV. RESURRECTION AND NEW LIFE . . . 204

XVI. JiiLAi is ALPHA AND OMEGA . . . 207

XVII. DIFFERENCES . . . . .214

XVIII. IMMEDIATE JOY [CONVERSION] . . .217

XIX. THE IDEAL PREACHER . . . .219

XX. HONOUR THE WORTHY .... 223

XXI. PENTECOST ...... 226

XXII. BE ONE . . . . . .229

XXIII. THE PHYSICIAN . . . . .231

XXIV. WONDERFUL NEWS [TRANSFIGURATION] . . 237
XXV. KWANYIN — THE UNIVERSAL (HEARER OF

PRAYER) ...... 239

XXVI. TOLONI (CALLING DEMONS TO AID BY MAGIC) . 241
XXVII. KWANYIN'S ROYAL PARENTS . 244

viii CONTENTS

CHAP. pAQE

XXVIII. COMMAND TO SAINT UNIVERSAL Goon (Pu

HIBK) . , 246

EPILOGUE. GOOD WILL TO MEN . 250

TRANSLATION OF THE GREAT PHYSICIAN'S
TWELVE DESIRES . . 263

VII
THE CREED OF HALF ASIA 267

THE NEW TESTAMENT OF
HIGHER BUDDHISM

GENEEAL INTRODUCTION

I. WHY PUBLISH A NEW BOOK ON BUDDHISM ?

I HAVE spent forty years in the Far East, during
which much time has been devoted to the study
of Buddhism in China and Japan.

In publishing this new book on Buddhism, I
have no desire to weary students with mere repeti
tion of what has been published before, but have
two objects in view.

Firstly, I hope to dispel some of the confusion
of thought regarding the relation of Buddhism to
Christianity. On this subject the translation of
The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana School
throws most important light.

For a century past in Europe, it has been well

2 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

known to students that there were two schools of
Buddhism, the Hinayana and the Mahayana.

That Christianity and Buddhism had many
truths in common was also well known. Super
ficial students, however, assumed that because
Sakyamuni was born five centuries before Jesus
Christ, Christianity had therefore borrowed these
truths from Buddhism, not knowing that the
Hinayana form of Buddhism was comparatively
local and short-lived, while it was the Mahayana
school of Buddhism which was so widely adopted
in China, Korea, and Japan, lasting to this day.
Nor do they know that the Mahayana school, of
which Edwin Arnold wrote so beautifully in his
Light of Asia, was not founded by Sakyamuni
five centuries before Christ, but by Ashvagosha at
the close of the first century of the Christian era,
when communication between East and West was
frequent and extensive.

Secondly, I hope to show that in The Essence
of the Lotus Scripture, as interpreted by Chinese
and Japanese " initiated " Buddhists (but not as by
the enlarged version in Kern's translation in the
Sacred Looks of the Last), we find the same teaching
as in the Gospel of St. John in regard to Life,
Light, and Love, a teaching which forms a wonder
ful bridge crossing the chasm between Eastern and
Western religion and civilisation.

Max Muller, Bunyiu Nanjio, Takakusu, Edmunds,

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3

and others, in their translations of some of the
leading Mahayana Scriptures, have afforded valuable
material for the study of the extensive common
ground in Buddhism and Christianity. None of
these writings, however, shed greater light than is
given by these two wonderful but hitherto little-
known books in the West, The Awakening of Faith,
and The Essence of the Lotus Scripture, which have
been for fifteen centuries sources of consolation and
aspiration to countless millions in the Far East.

A translation of The Awakening of Faith was
made into English by Zuzuki and published in
1900, but unfortunately without the knowledge of
the Buddhists' true key to the fundamental and
central idea of the book, namely, Chen Jit. This
he translated by the term " Suchness," thus obscur
ing the meaning of the whole. In my translation,
however, I have followed the meaning given in
a standard Buddhist book, Wan Fa Kivei Hsin
Lull, namely, God as The True Model. This
rendering, while faithful to the meaning of the
original, as interpreted by this standard work, at
the same time harmonises most fully with Christian
philosophy and religion.

The Lotus Scripture, in its translation by Kern,
was coloured so much by adaptation to Indian
environment that the essence of its teaching was
obscured. Thus neither of these books has been
fully understood nor appreciated. I do not

4 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

translate the whole of the Lotus Scripture, but
only that part which is considered by Chinese and
Japanese " initiated " Buddhists to be its essence.
By following the interpretation of a standard work
on The Awakening of Faith, and by relying on the
judgment of the " initiated " as to the true teaching
of the Lotus Scripture, Western readers will be in
a better position to understand the vital connection
between Christianity and Buddhism, and to pave
the way for the one great world-wide religion of
the future.

II. INTERCOMMUNICATION IN ANCIENT TIMES

It is a very common error to think that intercourse
between the East and West did not exist until
modern times, and that ideas were not transmitted
from one to the other. These days of excavations
have brought to light proofs of extensive traffic in
thought and commerce in early days between dis
tant countries.

In Western Asia, there were great highways,
along which great commercial caravans travelled
from Babylon to Palestine and Egypt. The
discovery of the Tel-el-Amarna correspondence
between the Governments of Babylon, Egypt, and
the Hittites show there was extensive intercourse
between these peoples about B.C. 1400.

There were both overland routes and sea routes

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 5

across Europe and Asia about the beginning of the
Christian era. The Chinese Chang Kien travelled
to the West in the second century B.C. The
Commissioners sent by the Emperor Ming Ti in
A.D. 61 went to India, passed through many
countries, and brought eminent teachers back from
India. From Parthia came missionaries to China
in the second century A.D.

In our days we have discovered, buried in
Turkestan, the Bible of Mani, who once had a
very large number of followers in China.

In the eighth century A.D. there was a large
trade between Arabia and Canton, and 120,000
Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, and Parsees were
massacred in a rebellion there in A.D. 877.

At that time Mohammed's cousin came to China
and had an audience with the Emperor, who had
in his possession paintings of Christian prophets
which he showed to the Arab ambassador.

Dr. Hirth, in his paper in the Royal Asiatic,
speaks of the considerable trade between China and
Socotra and Zanzibar in the eighth century.

We also know of the fleets which sailed from
China to Persia and the Red Sea in the clays of
Marco Polo.

Mr. Mayers, formerly of the British Legation in
Peking, has given details of the extensive commerce
between China and the west of Asia during the
Ming dynasty three centuries ago.

6 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Thus from very early times even distant China
(Seres) had intercourse both by land and sea with
the West. Buddhist pilgrims, Sung Yun, Iching,
and Huen Tsang, travelled westward by land
through Central Asia, and some came back by sea,
in company with merchant caravans and fleets.
Hindu, Parthian, and Nestorian missionaries, to the
extent of 2000, lived at Loyang, the capital of China,
about a thousand years ago.

Again, as Babylon and India were so near each
other, the political, commercial, and religious ideas
between them must have been to a large extent
common matters of knowledge. Among these the
advanced religious teachers of the Jewish prophets
in Babylon about the coming Messiah and the
kingdom of God must have been fairly well
known also.

Before printing was invented, it was impossible
to multiply sufficient MS. books for educational
purposes. Thus it was that religious teachers
adopted the ingenious method of using art as a
means of teaching religion. Paintings and sculp
tures in wood and stone were used to represent
their chief gods, leading prophets and saints.
Sooner or later, all religions in the East and West,
except Islam, adopted this method, and great
impetus was given to religious art throughout
the world.

Westward, religious education by means of art

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 7

is seen in the use of architecture and music. Thus
by this intercommunication between distant parts
of the earth we find the spread of religious ideas
and sacred thought, looking to the Divine as the
fountain-head of all hope — ideals common to all
mankind — westward as far as the Pacific, and
eastward to the Pacific again, completing the
whole round of the earth.

III. THE LEADING OF GOD IN CONTEMPORARY
EELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

The condensation of nebula into the solid earth,
the appearance of rocks, of vegetable and animal
life, did not take place at different times, but
simultaneously all over the earth.

By comparing the dates of great conquerors, of
great sages and founders of religions and civilisations,
we find that there was a simultaneous movement
operating, indicating that they were brought about
by causes common to them acting universally.
Thousands of years B.C. we find polytheism all
over the world, attended by multitudes of religious
ceremonies. About the fifth and sixth centuries
B.C. there arose in China, in India, in Babylon, in
Judea, and in Greece a large number of prophets
and sages who laid more emphasis on ethics than
on religious ceremonies paid to a multitude of gods.
From the beginning of the Christian era onwards

8 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

for a thousand years, we find monotheism and
ethics superseding ancient polytheism and religious
ceremonies, in Europe under Christianity, in Western
Asia under Mohammedanism, in India producing
the Bhagavat Gita, and in the Far East, China,
Korea, and Japan, under Confucianism and New
Buddhism.

Even the Eeformation in Europe is paralleled in
China and Japan by a similar antagonism to the
then prevailing religions, first against Buddhism
and then against Eoman Catholicism, when men
sought for new light on the problems of human life
both in the East and the West.

When the universal empire of Catholicism tried
to stamp out the Eeformed religion by the most
cruel persecutions, God raised up William of Orange,
Gustavus Adolphus, and others, to deliver Europe
from this oppression.

When military Buddhism and military Catholicism
tried to control Japan by political intrigues, God
raised up the two great military and civil geniuses
Hideyoshi and leyasu to deliver their country from
tyranny and oppression ; while in China they were
followed by the all-powerful and all-wise Emperor
Kanghi, who saved the Empire from falling into
the hands of bigoted religious people, whether of
China or of the West.

In our day we are face to face and side by side
with the choicest and most enlightened souls, who,

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 0

while realising the immanence of God, are striving
to obtain a glimpse behind the veil into the tran
scendency of God and recognise the Divine current
of spiritual force which inspires all nations and
races with modern Life, Light, and Love.

IV. SOME PROMINENT TEACHERS AND TRANSLATORS
OF THE MAHAYANA SCHOOL

The most prominent teachers of the Mahayana
school are four, namely, Ashvagosha, Nagarguna,
Asamgha, and Vasubhandu.

1. Ashvagosha, six centuries after Sakyamuni,
about A.D. 100, composed the Mahayana Sraddbot-
pada Sastra (The Awakening of Faith), which is
generally regarded as the book which gave rise to
the Mahayana school, or New Testament Buddhism.

This was translated into Chinese by Paramartha
(A.D. 502-551).

2. Nagarguna, a century after Ashvagosha
(about A.D. 160-194), composed the Mahayana
Sastra (not translated into Chinese), the Mahapragna
Paramita Sastra (Ta Chih Tu Lun or Essays on
Wisdom), translated by Kumaragiva in A.D. 402—
405, and the Madyamaka Sastra (Chung Lun), also
translated by Kumaragiva.

3. Asamgha, three centuries after Ashvagosha, is
said to have received from Maitreya, the Buddhist
Messiah, the Yogakaria Bhumi Sastra (Yokia Shih

10 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Ti Lun), translated by Huen Tsang in 646-647.
He himself composed the Mahayana Samparig
Kaha Sastra (Nie Ta Ching Lun), translated by
Paramartha in A.D. 563.

4. Vasubhandu, the younger brother of Asamgha,
composed —

(a) The Anitagus Sutro Padesa, translated by

Bodhiruki in 529. (Vasubhandu, on
account of this book, is regarded as
the second patriarch of the Amitabha
school, Nagarguna being the first.)

(b) The Buddha Gotra Sastra (Fo Shing Lun),

translated by Paramartha.

commentary on the Lotus Scripture).

(d) The Nirvana Sastra (Ta Pan Nie King

Lun), translated by Dharmabodhi in

the Eastern Wu dynasty 386-550.
(c) Vagrakkhedika Sutra Sastra (the Diamond

Classic commentary), translated by

Bodheruki in 509.
(/) Dasabhumika Sastra (Shih Ti King Lun),

translated by Bodheruki.
(g) Vidyamatra Siddhi Tri Dasa Sastra (thirty

verses), translated by Huen Tsang in

648, on which ten teachers compiled

a commentary.

The works of Vasubhandu are said to number
one thousand in all.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 11

There is no need to give a list of translators of
Buddhist Scriptures from Sanscrit into Chinese, as
they are given in Bunyiu Nanjio's Catalogue of the
Buddhist Tripitaka, Appendix II. But I will
mention one, as of special interest, as a small link
in the historical connection between Christianity
and New or Higher Buddhism. It is Anshikao, a
Parthian prince who gave up his kingdom in order
to become a missionary in China A.D. 148.

He translated from ninety-five to one hundred and
seventy-six works into Chinese, of which the names
of fifty-five are given in Bunyiu Nanjio's catalogue.
Anshikao's aunt was a hostage in Eome during the
time that Callistus was Pope. Among the books
translated by Anshikao is one on the Buddhist
Messiah (Mi Le Fo), and Pope Callistus seemed
inclined to believe that its teaching was, in the
main, the same as that which was current among
the Christians of the West at that early date (see
Professor Lloyd's Wheat among Tares, chap. xi.).

The fact that the Pope in Eome was familiar
with Buddhist teaching is another proof that
transfer of religious ideas from the Far West to the
Far East was quite possible in those early days.

As to the others, they, like all translators, could
not eliminate the personal element of their age and
environment. It is only as we can penetrate
beyond this that we can discern the true meaning
of these ancient writings.

12 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

V. BUDDHIST TRINITIES

In Judaism, we see one wondrous development
of Monotheism into a Trinity in Unity of Christi
anity which is the chief religious force in the world
to-day. In Buddism we see two wondrous develop
ments — first, Atheism into Theism; and secondly, the
development of that Theism into a Monotheistic
Trinity in Unity. In the last chapter of the
Epilogue of the Lotus Gospel the constant reference
is to the " great," or advanced, or new religion as
the only hope of salvation for the world, in contrast
to the "small," or elementary, or old religion
originally founded by Sakyamuni. This great
religion is so marvellously like Christianity in its
central teaching that it might well be called Pre-
Nestorian Christianity.

Buddhism possesses two groups of Trinities, which
it is most important to distinguish, as the funda
mental idea of the one is salvation by man's own
strength, while that of the other is salvation by
superhuman help.

The first group, mainly of the Hinayana school,
is the Sakyamuni Trinity—

Sakyamuni in the centre,

Puhien Pusa on his right hand, riding on an

elephant,
Wen Shu Pusa on his left hand, riding on a lion.

Originally, Sakyamuni was the Hindu prince

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 13

who left his palace and throne in order to discover
salvation from the sea of trouble and sorrow in trans
migration. This salvation he declared was by means
of man's own effort without any help from above.

The original teaching taught by him and held
by the Hinayana school, however, was, according
to Buddhist historians, of comparatively short
duration. About the beginning of the Christian
era, Sakyamuni was worshipped as God, and con
sequently the character of Buddhism was from that
time completely changed.

Puhien is regarded as the embodiment of good
will. Wen Shu as the embodiment of wisdom.

The second group, mainly of the Mahayana
school, is the Amitabha Trinity —

Amitabha in the centre,

Ta Shih Chih on his right hand,

Kwanyin on his left.

In the Book of Eevelation, heaven is described
as a place which is holy, where there is nothing
impure, and where there is no need of the sun and
moon, for God is the light of it. God is described
as the One that liveth for ever and ever, the Alpha
and Omega.

Turning to the New Buddhist Scriptures, we
find heaven is called the Happy Land, the Beautiful
Land, the Pure Land where Amitabha (Omito Fu)
reigns. He is described as one of Boundless Light

14 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

and Boundless Age, without birth or death, without
beginning or end — the Everlasting.

The Book of Eevelation and the New Testament
describe Jesus Christ as having the keys of death,
who opens and no man can shut, who shuts and no
man can open ; who was, is, and is to come ; who has
received all power in heaven and earth, and who
sits on the right hand of God.

Turning to the Scriptures of New, or Higher,
Buddhism, they describe the Chinese Ta Shih Chih,
Japanese Dai Seishi, as follows : —

God has two supreme heavenly beings as
counsellors. The name of One is Kwanyin, and the
name of the Other is Ta Shih Chih (the Great
Mighty One), who always sit on each side of Him.
God took counsel with them about past, present,
and future affairs of the universe, and desired that
they should separate from Him and go and become
incarnate (fen shin, which is the very expression
many missionaries use in describing the Three
Persons of the Trinity) in one of the worlds and
help Him to save it, without losing their original
unity and state (The Great Amitabha Scripture,
Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 203, chap, xxxvi.). (Cf.
John xvi. 28.)

The Scripture of Boundless Age (Cat. No. 133)
says of Ta Shih Chih that he can put an end to
the Karma chain of endless births and deaths
caused by sin, by removing sin altogether, without

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 15

needing a single re-birth, but go straight to the Pure
Land of Paradise, and live for ever there (Medita
tion 12). In one instance I have seen an image of
Mileh Fo (the Buddhist Messiah) taking the place of
Ta Shih Chih opposite to Kwanyin, as if the two were
one and the same. But the identification of these
two with the Great Physician requires more study.

Again, St. Paul in Romans, after describing the
whole creation groaning and travailing, writes : " The
Holy Spirit helps our infirmity and makes inter
cession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered,"
and " If God be for us, who can be against us ? "

Turning to the Scriptures of the New Buddhism,
we find they say that from time to time in all
classes of society, from the highest to the lowest?
there are men and women who are moved with
pity towards their fellow -men, and are inspired
to devote all their energies for the salvation of
others. This Inspirer of their highest and holiest
thoughts they call Kwanyin in China and Kwannou
in Japan, which means the One who looks down
upon human suffering and is the Inspirer of men
and women to save their fellows. Sometimes this
Inspirer is represented by a male Manjusri, and
sometimes by a female, the goddess of Mercy. But
the true meaning is the Divine Inspirer of both
men and women.

Thus we find in these three a complete identi
fication of the attributes of the Christian Trinity

16 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

in the New Buddhism (see below, Section 6,
Kwanyin, for fuller account).

In the West, God is generally spoken of as
masculine — the Father God.

In India, the gods are both masculine and
feminine.

In the Far East, the love of God is described
most fully in the feminine character, the goddess
of Mercy.

The famous Buddhist Triad of—
Buddha (the absolute, supreme God),
The Law (eternal in the universe),
The Priesthood (to teach and practise the Law),
is of a different category altogether, and, compre
hensive in its classification, belongs to all religions.

VI. KWANYIN, THE SO-CALLED GODDESS OF MERCY,
OR A FAR EASTERN VERSION OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT

As the fullest story of Kwanyin is to be found
in the 25th chapter of the Lotus Scripture, and as
Kwanyin figures so largely among the Buddhist
deities, I give a translation from the original
Chinese of the whole of that chapter, as it is most
important to explain who Kwanyin is. It is as
follows : —

Once the Saint Wuchini Shekayamati (ex-
haustless meaning) rose from his seat, removed his

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 17

robe from his right shoulder, folded his palms,
looked towards God, and said : " World-honoured
One, why is Kwanyin called the Hearer of the
world's prayers ? " God answered him : " Good man,
if innumerable beings are suffering all kinds of
troubles, and with all their heart call on Kwanyin,
Kwanyin immediately listens and delivers them.
Whoever lays hold of this Name, even if they enter
a great fire it will not burn them. This is because
Kwanyin is a Divine power.

"If floating on a great flood and call on this
Name, they will reach a shallow place.

"If many merchants seeking gold and silver, white
stones of adularia, agate, coral, amber, pearls, and
such-like treasures, and when sailing on the ocean
meet a typhoon blowing their ships adrift among
cannibal tribes, if there is even a single one in the
ship who calls on the Name of Kwanyin, all those
on board will be delivered from danger. For this
reason Kwanyin is called the 'Hearer of the
world's prayers.'

" If a man should be about to suffer hurt from
any one and calls on Kwanyin, the weapons used to
harm, whether sword or spear, will at once break
in pieces and the threatened sufferer be saved.

" If a world full of demons are about to attack
men, when they hear any calling on the Name of
Kwanyin, these demons cannot then look at them
with evil intent, much less harm them.

18 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

" Again, if one has or has not committed a crime,
is handcuffed in stocks, examined and bound, and
calls on the Name of Kwanyin, the bands will be
broken, and he delivered.

" If in a world full of cruel robbers, and the leader
of a caravan provides necessary and many treasures
for the journey, and goes through dangerous roads,
and there is one man who sings this hymn to
Kwanyin, none of the good men need have any
fear ; they should with all their heart call upon the
Name of Kwanyin, and Kwanyin will be able to
make all of them fearless. If they thus call on
this Name, then they will be delivered from the
cruel robbers. The robbers, on hearing the merchants
all saying, ' I believe in Kwanyin, the Hearer of
the world's prayers,' leave, and the merchants are
at once delivered.

" Wuchini, I tell you Kwanyin's Divine power is
great and sublime [cf. Ps. cvii.].

" If men are led too much by their passions, by
constant thought of and the worship of Kwanyin
these lusts can be suppressed.

" If men are too hot-tempered, by constant thought
of and the worship of Kwanyin they get rid of
anger.

"If men are stupid and foolish, by constant thought
of and the worship of Kwanyin they will get rid
of their foolishness. I tell you, Wuchini, Kwan
yin has this great Divine power and majesty in

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 19

abundance, therefore all men should think of
Kwanyin.

" If a woman desires a son and worships Kwanyin,
she will get a happy, virtuous, and wise son. If
she desires a daughter, she will get a good and
beautiful daughter, who will be rooted in virtue,
loved and respected by all. I tell you, Wuchini,
Kwanyin has this power. If all men respect and
worship Kwanyin, their happiness will not fail
them, therefore all men should hallow the Name.
I tell you, Wuchini, if a man hallows saints to the
number of 620,000, or as numerous as the sands
of the Ganges, and then worships each with food
and clothing, lodgings and medicine, what do you
think of the merit of such a man or woman ? Is
it not great ? "

Wuchini answered, " Yes, Lord, it is very great."

God said: "Yet if a man hallows Kwanyin's Name
but once, and worships Kwanyin, the blessing of the
two are equal and cannot end for millions of years.
Wuchini, I tell you that the hallowing of Kwanyin's
Name will receive the benefit of infinite blessings."

Saint Wuchini said : " World-honoured One, tell
me — why does Kwanyin preach the Law ? Why
is all this power of goodness ? "

God answered : " My good man, if there are
men in any nation who shall be saved by Divine
incarnation or indwelling, Kwanyin becomes mani
fest as Divine, and inspires them with the Law.

20 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

" If ib is necessary that doctors of theology should
be saved, Kwanyin appears as a doctor of theology
and preaches the Law to them.

" If it is necessary that Buddhists of the old school
should be saved, Kwanyin appears as a Buddhist
of the old school and preaches the Law to them.

" If it is necessary that a Brahman be saved,
Kwanyin appears as a Brahman to preach the Law
to him.

" If it is necessary that Indra is to be saved, then
Kwanyin appears as Indra and preaches the Law
to him.

" If it is necessary to save free disembodied spirits,
Kwanyin appears as a free disembodied spirit and
preaches the Law to them.

" If it is necessary to save the great generals of
heaven, Kwanyin appears as a great general
of heaven and preaches the Law to them.

" If it is necessary to save gods of luck, Kwanyin
appears as a god of luck and preaches the Law
to them.

" If it is necessary to save small kings, Kwanyiu
appears as a small king and preaches the Law
to them.

" If it is necessary to save leaders, Kwanyin ap
pears as a leader and preaches the Law to them.

" If it is necessary to save private scholars,
Kwanyin appears as a private scholar and preaches
the Law to them.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 21

"If it is necessary to save officials, Kwanyin
appears as an official and preaches the Law to them.

" If it is necessary to save Brahmins, Kwanyin
appears as a Brahmin and preaches the Law to
them.

" If it is necessary to save priests or nuns or
novices, Kwanyin appears as a priest or nun or a
novice and preaches the Law to them.

" If it is necessary to save the wives of leaders,
scholars, officials, Brahmins, Kwanyin appears as
a woman and preaches the Law to them.

" If it is necessary to save young men or young
women, Kwanyin appears as a young man or a
young woman and preaches the Law to them.

" If it is necessary to save devas, dragons, night-
goblins, kandapos, asuras, kialoulos, kinaloulos,
kinnalos, moholokias, men and not-men, Kwanyin
appears like them and preaches the Law to
them.

" If it is necessary to save angels who hold
sceptres, Kwanyin appears as one holding a sceptre
and preaches the Law to them.

" Thus, Wuchini, Kwanyin accomplishes merit in
all sorts of forms, appearing in all lands to save all.
On this account all of you should with one mind
worship Kwanyin, the Hearer of the world's prayers,
the great prayer-answering God.

" When in fear and great difficulties, Kwanyin can
make you fearless, therefore all in this evil world

22 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

call Kwanyin ' the Giver of courage, the Fearless
One'" [cf. Matt. x. 19, 20].

Wuchini spoke to God and said : " World-
honoured One, now I must worship Kwanyin."
He took off from his neck the precious pearls and
ornaments which had cost a hundred thousand
ounces of gold, and offered them to Kwanyin, saying,
" Benevolent One, receive this gift of a necklace
of precious pearls." But Kwanyin was unwilling
to receive it. Wuchini again said : " Benevolent
One, for our sakes please receive this necklace " ;
and God also said to Kwanyin : " For the sake of
Wuchini and the four classes, devas, dragons, yehtsas,
kandapos, together with asuras, kialoulos, kinalos,
moholokias, men and not-men, receive this necklace."

Then Kwanyin for the sake of all these received
the necklace and divided it into two. One-half
she gave to Sakyamuni and one- half she gave to
the temple of the God of all Grace. Wuchini
Kwanyin has this Divine power of choice in herself,
voluntarily to come to save this evil world.

Then Wuchini composed a hymn of one hundred
lines of ten words each in her honour.

After this, Saint Wuchini arose, went towards
God, and said : " World-honoured One, whoever
makes known to all beings the character of
Kwanyin, the Hearer of the world's prayers,
Kwanyin's voluntary service and Kwanyin's
miraculous power universally manifested, his merit

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

will be great." God answered : " This time of the
universal influence of Kwanyin will enable all
living beings to obtain the supremely correct
wisdom of the soul."

VII. Two VERY STRIKING SETS OF Vows

Both the Christians and the Buddhists regard
their chief object of worship as Divine and full of
compassion for human suffering. The Christians
speak of their Saviour as voluntarily leaving the
glory of heaven, where He was equal with God,
and coming down, lower than an angel, to be man,
suffering the shameful death of the cross for those
who were so cruel as to crucify Him, and praying
for them : " Father, forgive them ; for they know
not what they do " (Phil, ii., Luke xxiii.).

The Apostle Paul so pitied his fellow-men that
he wished himself " accursed from Christ " for his
brethren (Eom. ix. 3).

Again, when our Lord was about to leave this
world, He said : " Let not your heart be troubled . . .
I go to prepare a place for you . . . that where I
am, there ye may be also " (John xiv. 1—3).

When devout Buddhists read these sentiments,
they find much that commends itself to them as
of exceptionally high merit.

On the other hand, when the Christian reads
the vows of Amitabha (Dharmakara), which are
here summarised as saying he did not wish to

24 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

go to heaven if his followers could not enjoy the
same forty-six perfections as he had, namely, all
power, all wisdom, roaming through innumerable
worlds in boundless space of glory with happiness
unspeakable, with all wishes gratified, with bound
less life, light, peace, and joy ; where life is without
faintness and without end, without sin, without
pain, without grief, without ignorance, etc. (Sacred
Books of the East, vol. xlix. part ii. 12).

Or when they read the twelve vows of the
Buddhist Great Physician, which are here sum
marised from a Chinese Buddhist standard work
hitherto untranslated into English, namely : —

1. To descend to earth to make men godlike.

2. To enlighten the ignorant.

3. To supply all human wants.

4. To teach the New and Living Way.

5. To save men from hell and make them holy.

6. To heal men from all diseases.

7. To befriend the friendless.

8. To give hope to womankind.

9. To lead back the erring in thought.

10. To deliver the erring in action.

11. To feed the hungry and thirsty.

12. To feed hungry Spirits with spiritual food,
and clothe them with garments of righteousness.

Yo Skill Liu Li Kioang Julai King, which has also
the names of his twelve Generals (Apostles ?).

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 25

When devout Christians read these sentiments,
they will find much that will commend itself to
them as of exceptional merit, and will remind
them strongly of the teaching of their own Great
Physician.

Thus both Christians and Buddhists, by dwelling
on their respective ideals rather than on their
respective imperfections, will find themselves in
spired to co-operate and exert themselves more
than ever before for the salvation of their fellow-
men, and to study each other's most sacred books.
There are dry bones in both religions. What is
needed is the Creative Spirit of the Christians,
called the Merciful Kwanyin by the Buddhists, to
make these dry bones live again !

VIII. THE DEIFICATION OF SAKYAMUNI THE ATHEIST !

When Buddha began to teach he appeared exactly
as teachers, professors, or leaders of thought appear
in our day. He had a theory of life which com
mended itself to a large class of disciples, who in
turn commended the same theory to their disciples,
just like Darwin, Herbert Spencer, or Mrs. Eddy.

The theory was —

1. That the suffering of the world should be
removed.

2. That the suffering could only be removed
by removing the cause.

26 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

3. That the cause was, desire of anything but
rest of soul.

4. That this rest of soul was only in thought
ecstasy. This view resulted, after its adoption by
Asoka, in a rapid widespread system of philanthropy
throughout his empire. But Buddhist historians
say that this theory of life after experience of two
or three centuries lost its charm over the minds of
men, till a new doctrine was added to the scheme
of life, namely—

1. Help from God to save oneself and others
from suffering.

2. Communion with God, which gave the highest
ecstatic rest to the soul.

3. Partaking of the nature of God by new birth,
so as to become Divine and Immortal oneself.

This was called the Mahayana school of Buddhism
containing the Amitabha or Pure Land Doctrine.
But the old Buddhists belonging to the Hinayana
school were unwilling that their Teacher should
occupy a second place, therefore they deified
Sakyarnuni and worshipped him exactly as the
Mahayana school worshipped God, as we see in
the Lotus Scripture. While they say Sakyamuni,
they mean God throughout. From that time of
the transfiguration of Buddha, Buddhism took a
new lease of life and commended itself to the
heart of most of the millions of Asia. Thus we

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 27

see that its theology is Christian in everything
almost but its nomenclature. Ashvagosha was the
Apostle Paul of Buddhism, and lived only ahout
fifty years after Paul. Where Ashvagosha got his
ideas we do not know. Some say from the Apostle
Thomas, who is supposed to have been together
with him in the court of Gondophorus or Kanishka.
But we await further light on the historic meeting-
place of Christianity and New Buddhism before
more definite pronouncement can be made. Still,
the amazing fact remains that the deification of
Sakyamuni the atheist took place at this time,
and the Old original Buddhism from this time on
was superseded by the New, which believed in God.

IX. THE INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM

It is both beneficial and hurtful. These in
fluences are now made clear by the winnowing fan
of comparative religion.

1. Beneficial

(1) It made men think of eternal things as vastly
more important than temporary perishing things.

(2) It made men feel that their eternal happiness
or misery depended mainly on character (Karma
regulating re-births). The result was a universal
scheme of philanthropy to both men and beasts
under Asoka.

28 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

(3) It promised answers to prayers, anticipating
modern Christian science by firm belief in Amitabha,
in Yo Shih Fu (the Great Physician), and in
Kwanyin.

(4) It makes men tender-hearted and think how
they can save men from sin and suffering.

(5) It made men go forth as missionaries to save
mankind — west to Egypt and Europe, in Gnosticism
south to Ceylon and Java, north to Central Asia
and Mongolia, and east to China, Korea, and Japan.

(6) It adopted the most superb kindergarten
system of teaching to be found in all the world.
Grecian art from Gandara was developed in India and
at Borobudur in Java. Then it was developed in
China and Japan, till we find nothing superior to
it for religious teaching anywhere in the world.

2. Hurtful

(1) Buddhism made a gigantic blunder when it
impugned the wisdom of God in creating sex, which
is not only human but animal and vegetable,
holding that the exercise of natural functions for
reproduction to be sinful, instead of being talents
to be rightly used. The celebrated Chinese philo
sopher Chu Hi, a thousand years ago rightly
pointed out that if all became Buddhists there
would be an end of the human race, after one
generation had passed away.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 29

(2) The corollaries of this theory — asceticism,
monasticism, and fasting — have been tried on a world
wide scale, and have lasted for thousands of years
to a large extent in Christian as well as in Buddhist
countries, and are all serious mistakes, breaking in
stead of observing the eternal laws of nature.

(3) Buddhist theory of this world and of the
universe as described elaborately in its literature
(see Guide to Buddhahood, Devalokas, etc., trans
lated into English by the present Author) is not
justified by modern research, but, on the contrary, is
contradicted. Not even Buddhist intelligent men
believe in them now, as not any of them can be
claimed as discoveries. They are only childish
dreams, pure castles in the air.

(4) Buddhist theories of Gnostic hierarchies of
countless superhuman beings in the different parts
of the universe are only speculations of men with
lively imaginations without any facts to support
them, even after thousands of years of experiment.
The exercise of millions of minds on a barren
speculation is an incalculable loss to the progress of
the human race.

3. The Winnowing Fan of Comparative Religion
and Experience

(I) The doctrine of Karma, to be worked by man
alone, as taught in the ancient Hinayana school of

30 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Buddhism, when it met with a new religion which
taught that the Divine factor was greater than
mere human Karma, admitted its truth, and from
that time was dated the Mahayana doctrine of
united action of human Karma and Divine Grace,
which have captured the best intellects of the Far
East until they became obscured by a reaction of
ancient undeveloped Buddhism, again leaving the
soul still to grope its way in a thick fog.

(2) Asceticism, monasticism, and fasting are now
giving way to marriage of priests and nuns and the
establishment of colleges where men and women
are taught on equal footing instead of the Buddhist
idea of the inferiority of women.

(3) Ancient religious problems giving way to
more profitable modern problems of capital and
labour, socialism and internationalism, ideal educa
tion and righteousness with God and man, firmly
fixed in human hearts as the foundation of the
kingdom of God on earth.

4. Its Influence on Taoism

The superior influence of the Lotus Gospel over
all the other Buddhist Scriptures is not only seen
in the fact that apparently all the Buddhist temples
give it a place of honour in Japan, but even the
Taoists in China have been so impressed with its
value that, though they did not reprint it, they

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 31

have written another after its model which they
call the Taoist Lotus Gospel.

Its authorship is attributed to Lii Tsu, who
spiritualised the Taoist religion after the manner
of Nestorian teaching which flourished in the
capital of China (Sianfu) in his days, and was the
founder of so many semi- Christian secret sects that
worship a white-faced God (till forbidden to be
white by the present dynasty), who answers prayer
and heals all diseases much like the Christ of
Christian scientists.

If we ask wherein the extraordinary influence of
the Lotus Gospel consists, I would say — though it
speaks of many mansions in heaven, with bodies
twenty-five miles high, living one thousand years,
and other apparent extravagances, still its main
value seems to be in confirming —

1. Men's faith in its Divine power to deliver
men from the chains of endless transmigration and
be able to go to paradise at once.

2. Men's faith in its power to give everlasting
life.

3. Men's faith in its healing power equal to all
that Christian scientists claim.

4. Men's faith in its magic power to insure
persons against all accidents and dangers to body
and soul.

5. Men's faith in its power to unite men with God
and share in His miraculous power over all things.

32 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

6. Men's faith in its power to overcome all evil
spirits and devils.

7. Men's faith in the equality of all men
before God, in hearing the prayers of rich and
poor alike.

Both the Buddhist and Taoist versions quote the
same sign as evidence of its being from God, namely,
" Above comes forth water, and below comes forth
fire." Again, "Above there comes forth fire and
below water " (Lotus Gospel, chap, xxvii.).

The meaning here is not apparent. But it
reminds one of the two miraculous symbols of the
Holy Spirit — the water of life which flows from
the sanctuary of God for the healing of the nations
(Ezek. xlvii. and John vii. 37-39). And again
one of the seraphims having a live coal from the
altar touched Isaiah's lips, and said, " Lo, this hath
touched thy lips ; and thine iniquity is taken
away." And again, cloven tongues as of fire filled
the disciples with the Holy Ghost and with
marvellous enthusiasm for the salvation of all men
(Acts ii. 2-4). Thus as fire and water produce
steam, the chief factor in modern industries, so
does burning gratitude to God and desire to benefit
our fellow-men produce intense enthusiasm, the
chief factor in the spiritual progress of man. New
Buddhism in the Far East as well as Christianity
in the Far West claims a large share of this Divine
enthusiasm for the good of the human race.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 33

X. THE EELIGION OF THE FUTURE

We Christians believe that the kingdoms of this
world shall become the kingdom of our Lord, and
that then there will be but One Faith. Meanwhile,
we look out on the religious world as it exists to
day, and note that among all the habits of men none
are more permanent than the religious. It is the
habit of caste in India carried on for millenniums that
makes it second nature to the Hindu, as if caste were
as fixed as the stars in the heavens or as immovable
as the earth beneath them.

The same is true of Chinese religions —
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism ; and is
equally true of Christianity, Islam, and the minor
Keformed branches of Sikhs and Bahaists. The
children of all lands follow their parents from
age to age, not so much from knowledge as from
habit.

The Buddhists believe that Sakyamuni was all-
wise, therefore taught the highest truths for
mankind.

Confucianists vaguely believe that the Emperor
of China is the only son of Heaven, and therefore
all nations should obey him.

The Shintoists believe that the Emperor of
Japan is different in kind from ordinary mortals
— a descendant of the gods, therefore superior to all
sovereigns of earth.
3

34 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

The Pope believes that he represents God on
earth, and that all rulers should obey him.

The Mohammedans believe that Mohammed is
the last prophet of God to men, and that all men
should obey him.

The Sikhs and the Bahaists believe the same
of the founders of their religions.

It is only once in five hundred or a thousand
years that a man arrives with strength enough to
change the religious custom of many generations
as a result of study and knowledge of the need
of the times. So long as national intercourse was
partial, these religious founders stereotyped the
habit of their respective religions in local districts
or nations, until now we have about seven men in
all the world who claim obedience from all the

rest.

The time of universal intercourse dawned upon
mankind with the advent of steam and electricity
within the last century. With this there has
arisen the feeling that the next step in religious
evolution is not a monopoly of any one of these
competitive religions but a federation of all, on
a basis that acknowledges with gratitude all that is
best in the past in different parts of the earth as
Divine, and then finally following the one which
surpasses all the rest in authority and in usefulness
to the human race.

There would be no difficulty in getting the most

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 35

intelligent to recognise Moses and the prophets of
Israel, Confucius and Mencius, the Sages of China,
Mohammed, God's ambassador to the Arabs, as all
sent of God. And the final step in religion is
foreshadowed by the firm belief of Hindus, Buddhists,
and Christians, that the supreme Saviour of men
must be God Incarnate. Latently, if not expressed,
Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism base their
claim to obedience on the belief that their teaching

is derived from Heaven, where alone Power, Wisdom,
Justice, and Mercy are to be found in perfection.

The Eeligion of the future which will satisfy all
nations and all races will not be born of any party
cry, but will be born from the habit of looking at
the highest and permanent elements in all religions
and gladly recognising all that helps to save man,
body, soul, and spirit, individually or collectively,
as Divine.

The whole intelligent world is getting tired
of the struggle concerning the different doctrines
and practices of the various religions and their sub
divisions into many hundreds of sects, but all are
eager to know what light any or all of them can
throw on—

How to deliver one-tenth of the world from
poverty and oppression.

How to deliver one-half of the world from violent
men, who produce strikes, riots, rebellions, and wars.

How to deliver more than half of the world from

36 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

ignorance and superstition, so that the fruits of the
best knowledge God has given us may be reaped.

How to deliver all human hearts from the
disease of selfishness and sin, that they may be
made right with God and man.

To answer these questions aright is to begin the
establishment of the kingdom of God on earth,
which Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to
preach, and this is the one Great Eeligion of the
future.

XL EELIGIOUS ART

Under the influence of the Mosaic command
forbidding images, Christian art did not develop
early in the West. But in the Far East, where
there was no such commandment, there arose a
marvellous development which can be traced from
Greece to Gandara, India, China, and Japan.

Any one wishing to study high - class early
Christian art searches in vain for it in the
churches of Christendom before A.D. 500, but
if one desires to see the great visions of the Book
of Revelation illustrated worthily in art, one should
visit the Buddhist temples around Nara and Kioto,
where art flourished as a most powerful handmaid
to religion before printing had been invented and
before education had become general.

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH
TKANSLATOK'S INTEODUCTION

I. ONE OF THE GREAT BOOKS OF THE WORLD,
TA CHING Ki SHIN LUN

THIS is the title of one of the most important
books in the world. A Japanese scholar has trans
lated it The Awakening of Faith. It might also be
rendered The Mahayana Faith, or The Faith of the
New Buddhism. Its importance is apparent when
we consider the fact that of the 26,000 Buddhist
monks and nuns in Japan no less than 17,000 of
them belong to the Pure Land School and the
True School, which regard this book as their
fountain and origin.

Its importance is still more apparent when we
consider that its doctrines are the fundamental
ones of the Mahayana Faith, which is by far the
chief school of Buddhism, not only in Japan, but
also in China, where are the great majority of the

38 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Buddhists of the world. If we estimate the value
of books by the number of adherents to their
doctrines, then, after the Bible, the Koran, the
Confucian Classics, and the Vedas, this volume,
about the size of the Gospel of Mark, ranks next,
or fifth, among the sacred books of the world.

The great value of the book is also apparent
when we remember that the Eastern World had
been driven to general despair by the atheistic
doctrines of primitive Buddhism called the Hina-
yana school, and that it was by the doctrines of
this book, which gave rise to the Mahayana school
of New Buddhism, that a gospel of great hope was
preached to the greater part of the Eastern Asiatic
continent. Its new doctrines were that of the One
Soul immanent for good in all the universe, that of
a Divine Helper of men, of individual immortality
and growth in the likeness of God, of the import
ance of faith in God to produce good works, and
that of the willingness of the best spirits to make
sacrifices to save others — the very subjects which
in these modern days still occupy the attention of
the most thoughtful men of the world.

The book is Brahministic and Buddhistic, Indian
and Western in some aspects of philosophic thought.
It is profoundly philosophic, reminding one strongly
of Hegel, Berkeley, and G. Gore in the earlier part,
and is harder to understand than Bishop Butler's
famous Analogy ; yet very practical in the latter

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 39

part, therefore it has great importance arising from
its high and extensive range of view.

If it be, as it is more and more believed, that
the Mahayana Faith is not Buddhism, properly so-
called, but an Asiatic form of the same gospel of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in Buddhistic
nomenclature, differing from the Old Buddhism just
as the New Testament differs from the Old, then it
commands a world-wide interest, for in it we find
an adaptation of Christianity to ancient thought in
Asia, and the deepest bond of union between the
different races of the East and the West, namely,
the bond of a common religion. Both Christianity
and the New Buddhism hold to the transcendent
and the immanent forms of God ; but the East
emphasises more of the immanent form, while the
West emphasises more of the transcendent. The
almost universal reception of the doctrines contained
in this book by both the East and the West con
stitutes to my mind its highest claim to our
attention ; for thereby we are brought face to face
with a solution of the stupendous practical problem
of uniting all races in one bond of religious charity !

II. THE EVOLUTION AND DEVOLUTION OF
BUDDHISM

The evolution of Buddhism is seen in the New
Buddhism superseding the Old, and the devolution

40 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

in the attempt by later writers to combine the
Primitive with the Advanced, an absurd anachron
ism and impossibility. This will be apparent from
the study of the different schools of Buddhism.

The most common division of Buddhism is that
into the smaller (Hinayana), or Primitive Buddh
ism, and the greater (Mahayana) or Advanced
Buddhism.

During Gautama Buddha's life there were no books
of his teaching written, but according to a Japanese
book on Buddhism called Pa-chung-kangyao, pub
lished in A.D. 1319, tradition says that during the
first four hundred years after Gautama Buddha's death
(B.C. 543), the Hinayana school flourished greatly,
while the Mahayana was not known. But five
hundred years after Buddha's death, Maming (Ash-
vagosha) wrote the book on The Mahayana Faith.
The Mahayana school then began to flourish every
where, while the Hinayana went under a cloud.
This makes the rise of the Mahayana school
contemporaneous with the rise of Christianity.

Besides this broad division into the Hinayana
and the Mahayana schools, there are other divisions
of Buddhism which are interesting to know, as they
indicate the development and growth of religious
ideas in the Buddhist religion, just as in the
Christian and in every other religion, and also
their decay when Buddhist learning was neglected.
For example, in China the Tientai school of

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 41

Buddhism, with its headquarters in the mountains
of Chekiang province, divides Buddhism into four
schools, namely—

1. The Tsang Chiao, Primitive Buddhism (i.e. the
Hinayana).

2. Tung Chiao, Buddhism in a transition state.

3. Pieh Chiao, New Buddhism (i.e. the Maha-
yana).

4. Yuan Chiao, the complete religion of all the
schools.

The Hsien Shou school of Buddhism — founded
by followers of Fa Tsang, called also Hsien Shou,
the third patriarch after Wen Shu Pusa, the great
Buddhist saint of Wutai, in Shansi, who died A.D. 627
and is specially worshipped by the Mongols —
divides Buddhism into five schools, namely—

1. The Siao Chiao, or Primitive Buddhism (the
Hinayana).

2. Shili Chiao, or the Beginning of True Eeligion
(transition state).

3. The Chung Chiao, or the Final Development
of the True Eeligion (the Mahayana).

4. The Tun Chiao, or the School of Meditation,
founded by the last Buddhist patriarch Ta Mo,
A.D. 529, is not mentioned separately in the Tieutai
classification.

5. The Yuan Chiao, or the Complete Keligion of
all the schools.

42 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Generally speaking, the classifications of both
agree. But the Tientai school in the province of
Chekiang regards the Lien-hua-king or the Lotus
Classic as their chief scripture, while the Hsien
Shou school on the north regards the Hua-yen-king
as their chief scripture. But both these chief
scriptures are said to have their origin in the
Ki Shin Lun, the book which we now translate
under the name of the New Buddhist Faith, called
in Sanskrit the Mahayana sraddhotpada shastra.
These classifications are rather ancient. There is a
great dearth of books on the subject of modern
schools of Buddhism showing the decline of Buddh
ism in China during the last two dynasties, but
there are writers now at work to give the later
history of Buddhism in China and to bring it down
to date.

In Japan, while Buddhism is divided into the
two great schools — the True School, by which one
seeks salvation by reliance on self, and the Pure
Land School, by which one seeks salvation by the
help of God — all Buddhists are now subdivided
into twelve sects. An outline of each of these
was given by one of the leading men in each
school, and Bunyiu Nanjio, M.A. (Oxon), the ablest
Sanskrit scholar then in Japan, translated them into
English and published them in 1886 under the
name of A Short History of the Twelve Japanese
Buddhist Sects.

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 43

Most of these sects, like the Eomanists, forbid
their priests to marry ; but others, like the Pro
testants, give their priests perfect liberty to marry
or not as they please. Some sects expect to work
out their own salvation with fear and trembling,
saying that whatsoever a man sows that shall he
also reap — the Karma of the Old Buddhism — while
other sects say that repentance and faith in God
can far outstrip all independent efforts at salvation.
Some of the sects insist on incessant study, and, like
the Positivists, expect their followers to be en
cyclopaedias of all knowledge ; while others again
are only expected to repeat 0-rni-to-Fo, like our
selves in our Western religions, who think the
" Hail Mary " or " Only Believe " sufficient doctrines
equally absurd or profound according to our stand
point of observing them or of using them. Thus
we see a striking parallelism in the development of
religion in the West and in the East — signs of life
as well as of decay.

III. How I CAME TO TRANSLATE THIS BOOK

The story is of no small interest. In 1884 I
visited Nanking in company with my revered
friend, David Hill, to see the Viceroy, and
to persuade him to interest himself in securing
religious freedom for Christians and immunity
from persecution. Whilst there, I sought for

44 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

some Buddhist books which I could not procure
in the north of China. I learnt that a Buddhist
Book Society had been started in Nanking, Soochow,
and Hangchow, three of the leading cities in Central
China, in order to replace those destroyed during
the Tai Ping Kebellion. Of the three societies, the
most important was that at Nanking, and the
prime mover of the whole three societies lived
there. His name was Yang Wen Hui. I called
on him, and found him the most intelligent Buddhist
I had ever met. He had been several years in
Europe as treasurer to the Chinese Embassy when
Marquis Tseng represented China in England and
France. Mr. Yang had had interviews with Max
Miiller and Julien and Bunyiu Nanjio of Tokio,
who had studied under Max Miiller. Thus, besides
being well acquainted with the Buddhist authorities
in China, he was personally acquainted with the best
authorities in Europe and Japan. Mr. Yang was not
a Buddhist priest, but a Confucianist with the B.A.
(siutsai) degree, and was only a lay Buddhist.

I said to him, " How is it that you, with a
Confucian degree, should have ever become a
Buddhist ? " His answer was striking : " I am
surprised that you, a missionary, should ask me
that question, for you must know that Confucianism
shirks some of the most important questions. It
only deals with human affairs now, not with the
superhuman." " But do you mean to say that

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 45

Buddhism answers those questions ? " He said,
" Yes." " Where ? " I asked again. He answered,
"In a book called The Awakening of Faith. That
book converted me from Confucianism to Buddhism."
" Have you that book for sale here ? " I asked.
" Yes," he replied, and brought the book and laid
it in my hands. Finding him to be most thoroughly
conversant with the relative value of the various
Buddhist books, I asked him to select for me some
dozen works which he considered most important.
Having paid for them, I returned to my inn.
Shortly after, the box containing all my purchases
arrived. I looked for the book on The Awakening
of Faith, and began reading it, and sat up reading
it till the small hours of the morning. I cried to
my friend Hill, who was also sitting up late at
work, " This is a Christian book and most interest
ing." " Christian ? " my friend cried, with great
doubt. " You are reading your own thoughts into
the book ! " " Well, then," I said, " how do you ex
plain these passages ? " pointing to some to which
there was no ready explanation.

Three months later I was in a bookseller's shop
in Edinburgh, and, looking through his new books,
I came across Beal's little book on Buddhism, then
just published. Turning up a certain chapter in it,
I found that he referred to The Awakening of Faith
as a pseudo-Christian book which it was desirable
to have translated !

46 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Years passed by. In 1891 I was transferred
to Shanghai. Shortly after, I met my friend
Mr. Yang again, and I told him that I had read
The Awakening of Faith with great interest, but
that frequently I came across philosophical terms
which no existing dictionary explained, and which
even excellent Chinese scholars could not explain.
If he could spare some of his time to come to
Shanghai, I would spare some of my time to
translate it with his help. He readily agreed, and
was delighted to have the book made known to
those interested in Buddhism in the West. Thus
the book was translated into English in 1894.
But it was not published then, as I wished to
have leisure time to revise it before publication.
That time of leisure has never come. Six years
later (1900), Suzuki's translation into English was
published by the Open Court, Chicago. His
translation bears the mark of one who has spent
much study on the subject, but he did not possess
the knowledge of the true key to the fundamental
and central idea of the whole book, namely, Chen Jii.
He translates it by " Suchness," which obscures his
whole translation ; whereas I gave the literal trans
lation True Model, meaning God, which later I found
confirmed in an old standard Buddhist work called
Wan Fa Kwei Sin Lull. In Suzuki's introduction,
he quotes a large number of different authorities
about Ashvagosha. But as he approaches the subject

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 47

from the non- Christian point of view, the light
which conies from a comparison between it and
Christianity is denied him. He dwells more on
his philosophical " suchness " or on his psychological
theory of " triple personality " and only on one
religious characteristic, "faith," apparently un
conscious of its incalculable importance as a
religious eirenicon between the East and the West.
Though I have had no time to carefully revise this
translation of mine, I publish it because I believe
it is capable of producing brotherhood amongst men
of different religions, when interpreted in the light
of Christianity.

IV. UNITY IN DIVERSITY

In the Chinese version of the Diamond Sutra,
Kin Rang King, which is one of the most
popular of all the Buddhist Sutras and most
widely used throughout China, there is a
very remarkable passage attributed to Gautama
Buddha in the sixth chapter. It is to this
effect : " Five hundred years after my death there
will arise a religious prophet who will lay the
foundation of his teaching, not on one, two, three,
four, or five Buddhas, nor even on ten thousand
Buddhas, but on the Fountain of all the Buddhas ;
when that One comes, have faith in Him, and you
will receive incalculable blessings." Now, since it

48 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

is well known that Jesus Christ and Ashvagosha did
appear some five hundred years after Buddha, this
is one of the most remarkable prophecies in the
whole range of Sacred Literature.

But to return to The Awakening of Faith. It
is of immense interest and importance to find in
this book the following striking contrasts between
the Old Buddhism and the New Buddhism.

1. The Old Buddhism was atheistic; the New
is theistic.

2. The Old Buddhism trusted in salvation by
one's own efforts (Karma) ; the New trusted in
the help of God as well.

3. The Old Buddhism believed in retirement from
the evil world ; the New believed in living in the
world and in saving others as the highest virtue.

4. The Old Buddhism believed in countless trans
migrations before the many could be delivered ; the
New believed in passing into Paradise at once with
out any rounds of transmigration.

No one who is acquainted with the character
istics of Christianity can read these things without
being struck with the remarkable similarity of
these few points of the New Buddhism with it :
nay, they are exactly the same so far as they
go. Buddhism and Christianity at first contact
in modern days were mutually hostile to one
another. But when the earnest students of both
religions penetrated through the different forms

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 49

and nomenclature into the deep internal meaning
of all, they found not only that they aimed at
the same thing, the salvation of the world, but
that many of their chief teachings were common
to both. They no longer feared each other as
foes, but helped each other as friends.

V. COMMON OKIGIN AROUND BABYLON

It is getting clearer each year now that these
common doctrines of New Buddhism and Christianity
were not borrowed from one another, but that
both came from a common source, Babylonia,
where some of the Jewish prophets wrote their
glorious visions of the kingdom of God that was
to come. Babylon then had much intercourse
with Western India and Persia, as well as with
Judea, Egypt, and Greece. From this centre these
great life-giving, inspiring truths were carried like
seeds into both the East and West, where they
were somewhat modified under different conditions.

It is also getting clearer each year that different
truths, wherever found, cannot be antagonistic.
They do not neutralise, but complement each
other ; they do not destroy, but fulfil one another.

VI. ASHVAGOSHA

The various accounts of the life of Ashvagosha
are so contradictory and many, so full of impossible
4

50 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

legends, that it is difficult to know how to separate
the false from the true. But all are agreed —

That he was a Brahman who was converted to
Buddhism ;

That he travelled extensively in Central India
and later in Northern India, and that he largely
describes things of Western India in his book of
Great Glory ;

That he was contemporary with, if not adviser
of, a king, whose name is not yet quite known, of
North-Western India, who lived in the first century
of the Christian era.

That he was the founder of the New Buddhism,
often called the Mahayana school, or the Northern
Buddhism ;

That seven other works of his have been trans
lated into Chinese, one of which is a celebrated
life of Buddha translated by Beal.

His conversion as given by Suzuki is almost
as striking as that which Yang related to me
about his own conversion. The day had come
for a public discussion of religion, as was common
in India at that time, and Ashvagosha and Pareva
were to be the debaters. Ashvagosha said, " The
one unable to answer shall have his tongue cut
out." The other replied, "No, he shall become
a disciple of the winner." Then he asked
Ashvagosha, " What shall we have to do in order
to keep the kingdom in perfect peace, to have

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 51

the king live long, to let the people enjoy
abundance and prosperity, all free from evils
and catastrophes ? " Not being able to answer
this, Ashvagosha became the other's disciple.

How to bring down high dogma to practical life
for the permanent good of all classes remains still
the great problem of life, philosophy, and religion.

VII. THE TEXT

This book on The Awakening of Faith is men
tioned in an old catalogue of Buddhist Scriptures in
the T'ang dynasty. I asked a friend in India to
try and procure me the copy of the original in
Sanskrit, but he has not succeeded. This Chinese
version of it was made by the Buddhist missionary
Paramartha, who lived in China in the Liang
dynasty, A,D. 502-555.

VIII. TRANSLATION

It is a common error of translators to translate
the same word always by the same word. As the
same word in different connections often has different
meanings, and the translated word, however literal,
does not always cover exactly the same amount of
meaning as the original, I have endeavoured to give
the true meaning of the original, although the English
rendering may be by different words in different

52 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

places. That is why I have rendered the term
Chen Jii by True Form, True Model, True Keality,
Archetype, and other terms, rather than by any
unfamiliar term, as likely to give a more correct
idea of the original to the student of Buddhism.

IX. CONCLUSION

The reader who is acquainted with the low state
of Buddhism in China to-day may naturally ask,
since the New Buddhism was so full of such high
teaching on some of the greatest problems of life, and
since it was so flourishing for many centuries, why
is its glory departed ? The answer is, besides what
is given in Section II, that it is largely for want of
proper education in its religion. The same is true
of Taoism. It is only the Confucianists who have a
grand system of education, and with that all power
and influence is theirs, while the other religions
have only reaped weakness and shame in conse
quence of their ignorance. The term Julai, instead
of being rendered by Tathagata, another foreign
term, is best rendered by Messiah in English, as
it literally means the " Model Come," i.e. the True
Model become Incarnate.

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 53

TKANSLATOK'S SYNOPSIS
CHAPTER I

PAGE

Reasons for writing this book — 05

QUESTION 1. Why write the book ?

ANSWER —

A. Not to get fame, but to give happi

ness to a world of sorrow.

B. To lead men to the right through Ju

Lai, the Incarnate Transcendent
One.

C. To lead the best men to the Mahayana

Faith or the New Buddhism.

D. To lead less noble men to have some

faith.

E. To show how to get rid of all error.

F. To rid worldly men and those of the

two lower schools (the Hinayana
and middle schools) of error.

Gr. To show men how to see God (Buddha).

H. To show the benefits of this faith.

QUESTION 2. As the Sutras explain all this,
why write a new book ? 66

54 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

ANSWER. To give a comprehensive view of PAGE
the whole to intelligent men.

CHAPTER II

The fundamental doctrine of the Mahayana

Faith — 68

A. Its nature — the Soul of all.

B. Its attributes — all-pervading.

CHAPTER III

Exposition of the Faith— 69

A. By definitions.

B. By correcting heresies.

C. By showing the steps of progress.

D. By definitions the One Soul has two

aspects —

1. The Eternal Transcendent One —

beyond all language.

QUESTION 3. How then can any follow it ? 70

ANSWER. Though beyond language yet con
ceivable.

A. It is not like ordinary realities.

B. It is nevertheless the most real of all.

2. As the Temporary Immanent One

— in all living beings.
A. The Mahayana faith has some in
finite or divine knowledge 71

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 55

In the original state, PAGB

In the various states of acquired knowledge,
Behind thought and intermixed with the
experience.

(1) In this Original or Divine light

there is —
(a) Pure Wisdom,
(&) Wonderful Goodness.

(2) The attributes of this Original or

Divine Light are —

(a) Infinite recreation of the Eternal

Unity as extensive as space
and like a bright reflecting
mirror.

(b) Infinite Eevelation of the Eternal

Energy — a reflector of the
real influences.

Law — a reflector of that
which is without sorrow or
hindrance.

(d) Infinite Eevelation of Love-

reflector which shines on all
living beings.
B. The Mahay ana faith has acquired

knowledge. 7 7

(1) Producing three states of acquired

knowledge —
(a) Sensation,

56 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

(5) Consciousness, PAGE

stages of — 78

(a) Consciousness,

(5) Sensation,

(d) Differentiation,
0) Will,

(/) Eeflection.

(2) Showing two different conditions — 79

the Eternal and the Acquired.

(a) The same nature, just as a frag
ment of pottery and all the
pottery are of clay.

(I) But different forms, just as the
clay is made into different
vessels.

(3) Producing the five kinds of

thoughts —
(a) Faculty of sensation,

(6) „ consciousness,

(d) „ conception,

(e) » will.

(4) Producing the opinions of imper

fect knowledge.

Those ways which lead the soul astray are
six, namely —

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 57

(a) Through false perception,
(6) Through false affections,

knowledge,

(d) Through analogy of objective

forms,

(e) Through inaccurate perception,
(/) Through inaccurate sensation.

(5) Having two states — the rough and

the fine.

QUESTION 4. If the soul ends, how does
it continue ? If it continues, how does it
end? 85

ANSWER. What ends is only the state of
the soul, not the soul itself.

(6) Having four influences incessantly

at work — the true, the un
true, the confused, the false
objective.

(a) The misleading influence —
a.a. of the false world,
bl). of false opinions,
c.c. of ignorance.

(&) The constant purifying influences—
a.a. of the imperfect good

opinions,

1.1. of the transcendent.
(I) Directly by its own nature.

58 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

QUESTION 5. As all have the transcendent, PAGE
what need of faith and practice ? 89

ANSWER. It is because imperfect knowledge
differs

(II) Indirectly by the powers of other
beings —

(a.a.a.) Through different mo
tives,

(b.b.b.) Through the same tran
scendent motives.

(III) By contrast and by example.
(c) One ends, the other never

ends.

(7) Having the Transcendent's own

nature and state.

QUESTION 6. As the transcendent is inde
pendent of all states, how do you speak of all
kinds of blessings and possibilities ? 93

ANSWER. Although it has these blessings,
it is independent of any state.

(8) Having the transcendent in action
— Buddha's vows begin here.

(a) Has the faculty of distin
guishing between good
and evil — the Kegener-
ated Spirit (Ying Shen).

(I) Has the faculty of con-

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 59

scious indwelling — the PAQE
Inspired Spirit (Pao
Shen).

suffering.

(d) Has the faculty of per

ceiving the Divine Spirit
(Fa Shen).

(e) Has finally the faculty be

yond human experience
— the Buddha experi
ence.

QUESTION 7. If the Buddhas are inde
pendent of all visible states, how can they
manifest themselves ? 97

ANSWER. The spiritual state is the Soul
of all the visible, therefore can manifest itself
in the invisible.

(9) Being shown in leaving the immanent

for the transcendent.
A. By correcting heresies
1. About terms such as

a. That Julai is space.
I. That nirvana and the transcend
ent are intangible.
c. That Julai embraces matter and
spirit, therefore these cannot
be cured.

60 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

d. That as Julai embraces every- PAGE

thing, therefore it embraces
life and death.

e. That the joys of nirvana come

to an end when Julai comes
from heaven to save men.

2. About the relation of the transcend

ent to the immanent being inimical.

3. About purity and defilement being

absolute, not relative.

B. By showing the different steps of pro
gress — 102
1. Growth of faith depends on men and
character.

a. Faith is not mere goodness,

which may fail.

b. Faith is threefold — is based

on the transcendent, re
joices in all good, and
helps to save.

QUESTION 8. As men and the transcendent
are the same, what need is there for practice ? 104

ANSWER. Like a precious stone from a
quarry, it must be polished.

c. Faith employs four means of

progress.

(1) Cultivates the study of the root of
all things.

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 61

(2) Prevents evil. PAGE

(3) Grows in goodness.

(4) Grows in the desire of the salvation

of all beings.

d. Faith-fruits manifested in

self -sacrifices — the Ke-
generated Spirit (Ying
Shen).

e. Faith descends to save others.
/. Faith never fails because of

difficulties.

2. Growth in intelligent practice of the

five Transcendent Paramitas (Wis
doms or Virtues)— 107

a. The divine Wisdom of Charity.

I. The divine Wisdom of Dis
cipline (Holy Life).

c. The divine Wisdom of En

durance.

d. The divine Wisdom of Per

severance.

e. The divine Wisdom and Un-

changeableness.

/. The divine Wisdom of Sound
Judgment.

3. Growth in attainments—

a. The Pusa saint becomes able
to reach all places to sup
port the enlightened.

62 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

I. This Growth of the Saint is PAGE
threefold — the transcendent
ideal, the means used, and the
perfection attained.

c. This perfection is Buddhahood
(Divinity).

QUESTION 9. To comprehend all beings in
all the worlds, how can any get this seed of
wisdom? 109

ANSWER. By obtaining the omniscience that
is independent of the senses and is in all
minds.

QUESTION 10. If the Buddhas (Divine
Emanations) are incarnate everywhere to save
mankind, why do you say that most people
cannot see them ? 110

ANSWER. Only those pure like a bright
mirror are able to reflect and see such.

CHAPTER IV

The practice of the Faith — 111

A. How to practise Charity.

B. How to practise perfect Ethics. 112

C. How to practise enduring wrong.

D. How to practise perseverance. 113

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 63

E. How to practise checking vain thought 1>AGE
and getting sound judgment' 114

1. Preventing vain thought — sitting in

quietness, and then 115

a. Think of the means of check

ing vain thoughts till you
get transcendent peace.

b. Learn that the peace of all

in heaven and earth is the
same.

c. Think when tempted of the

One Eternal Soul.

d. Find out the ten advantages

of peace in this life.

2. Reflect —

a. That nothing created lasts long. 119
h That life is full of sorrow.

c. That the present self is not the

real self, the past is a dream,
the present a lightning flash,
the future smoke.

d. That all beings are stained.

e. That existence down all ages is

marred by sorrow, and there
fore to be pitied.

/. That a great vow should be
made to save others.

(j. That the vow should be carried
out in practice.

64 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

3. Check vain thoughts, and reflect at the PAGB

same time and at all times. 121

4. Keflect on Amitabha (God), so as not

to lose faith.

CHAPTER V

Advantages of the Faith — 123

A. Generally it will obtain the very highest

doctrine.

B. Will attain to Buddhahood (the Divine

state).

0. An hour of faith surpasses a universe of
good works.

D. The advantages are incalculable, for

eternity is not long enough to calcu
late them.

E. Unbelievers and revilers have no hope

of salvation.

F. It is by means of this faith that the

Buddhas and the Pusa saints of
the past and present have attained
and are attaining their pure faith,
therefore follow it ! 125

The closing hymn.

Ill

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH

OPENING HYMN

I yield my life to the All,

To the ALL SOUL, full of good,

In wisdom all complete,

In power all divine,

In pity — would save all.

To LAW which does embody
The Archetype of all.

To CHURCH which does contain
The Archetype in Seed,

That men may be delivered
From doubt and evil ways ;
Get Faith in the Great School
Perpetuating God !

CHAPTEK I

EEASONS FOR WRITING THE BOOK

QUESTION 1. What are the reasons for writing
this book ?

ANSWER. The reasons for it are eight —
A. Generally speaking, it is to induce all living
5

66 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

beings to depart from the way of all sorrow and to
obtain the highest happiness, instead of seeking the
glitter of fame and wealth of this world.

B. It is to make clear the fundamental idea of
the incarnate God (Ju Lai) in man, and to lead
all beings in the right way, avoiding error.

C. It is to lead those ripe in goodness to continue
in the Mahayana Faith without failing.

D. It is to enable those in whom the root of
goodness is very small to cultivate faith more and
more.

E. It is to show how to remove evil hindrances
and to strengthen well the mind, to keep far from
mad pride, and to see through the deceits of vice.

F. It is to show how to study and correct
the errors of ordinary men and the errors of the
two inferior schools (the Hinayana or elementary
school and the Madhyi-yana or middle school of
Buddhism).

G. It is to show the means by which one
may ascend to the abode of God (Buddha) and
never lose faith.

H. It is to show the benefits of this Faith and
to exhort men to practise it.

These are the main reasons for writing this book.

QUESTION 2. As the Sutras, or classic Buddhist
Scriptures, explain these things fully, what need is
there of repeating them ?

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 07

ANSWER. Although the Sutras have discussed
these things, yet as men's abilities and attainments
are different, the reception of instruction is neces
sarily different. When the incarnate God (Ju Lai)
was on earth, all men were able to understand him.
His body and mind far excelled those of all other
men. When he delivered his perfect words, all
living beings, though different in kind, understood
him alike, and therefore there was no need of
explanation.

But after Ju Lai's death we find that some men,
after widely reading our Sacred Scriptures, have the
power unaided to understand them ; we find that
others, after only hearing a little of the Sacred
Scriptures, have the power unaided to understand
much ; we also find that some have not sufficient
intelligence to understand the Scriptures unassisted
by extensive explanations ; whilst we find that
others dislike voluminous writings and prefer a
terse style which embraces many principles, and
which they are able to understand.

Thus this book is written for the last class
of men which desire to know the general principles
of the great and profound Law of Ju Lai with its
infinite applications.

68 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

CHAPTER II

THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINE OF THE
MAHAYANA FAITH

Having explained the object of writing this book,
we now proceed to consider the fundamental
doctrine of the Mahayana Faith. The great school
(Mahayana) speaks of the Eternal Soul of the
universe, His nature and His attributes.

A. By His nature is meant the Soul of all
living beings. The soul embraces that of saved
and of unsaved beings, and it is this universal Soul
that characterises the great school. For it is the
Archetype's True Eternal Form which is the nature
of the Mahayana Faith ; and the Archetype's
temporory form in life wThich is able to make
manifest the nature, form, and use of the Mahayana
Faith.

B. As to the attributes of this Soul, they are
three. The first is the vastness of its nature. All
things are originally one and the same and an
eternally fixed quantity in the True Model. The
second covers its vast manifestations. In the
person of Ju Lai, the True Model Come, there
are infinite possibilities stored up as in a womb.
The third is its vast power. It is able to
produce all good among all classes of unsaved
beings.

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 69

All the enlightened Buddhas follow this Mahayana
Faith, and all the chief saints (Pusas) attain to
the perfection of Ju Lai by the methods of this
Faith of the New Buddhism.

CHAPTER III

EXPOSITIONS OF THE MAHAYANA FAITH

These expositions are of three kinds —

A. Those about the meaning.

B. Those about the correction of erroneous con
ceptions.

C. Those about the different steps of progress.
As to the meaning of the One Soul, there are

two aspects —

1. One is the eternal transcendent Soul.

2. The other is the temporary immanent Soul.
These two aspects embrace everything, for they

are really one.

1. The eternal state of the Soul.

The Soul or Mind of the True Model is the great
essence of the invisible and the visible worlds. As
to the nature of this One Soul, it is the same in all
forms. To think it is different in different forms is
only a false notion of the world. Once we penetrate
beyond forms, it is discovered that all the different
forms of the universe are not real differences of soul

70 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

at all, but different manifestations of one real power,
hence it has always been impossible to speak
adequately, to name correctly, or to think correctly
of this One Soul, the real essence of things, which is
unchangeable and indestructible. We therefore name
it the TRUE ESSENCE OR THE TRUE LIKENESS OR THE
TRUE FORM OR MODEL. But all nomenclature of these
matters is imperfect, and if one follows superficial
thought, the true meaning cannot be found out. Even
though we call it the True Model, it has no form.
It is because language in its extremity fails us that
we coin a new term to avoid ordinary ideas. But
the nature of this Archetype is a reality that cannot
be destroyed, for all things are true though they
cannot be truly pointed out to the senses, and all
forms are really only different manifestations of the
one True Model. It should be remembered that this
is beyond ordinary language and beyond ordinary
thought, therefore we name it the True Model.

QUESTION 3. How then are men to follow and
obey and find the way to this True Model of
things ?

ANSWER. One must know that although one can
not speak of this adequately, as it is beyond all
expression, and although one cannot think of this
adequately, as it is beyond all thought, yet we call
this state the seeking after ; and that when we
leave ordinary thought of these things, we are

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 71

entering into the gate of knowledge. Next, when
using words to discuss the True Model, it may be
spoken of in two ways, namely, first as the unreal
as compared with ordinary realities, in order
eventually to show its reality ; secondly, as the
only real as compared with ordinary realities,
because it has a nature of its own full of infinite
possibilities.

A. First, then, the Unreal.

When we speak of the unreal, we mean that
which has never been defined, which is separate
from all existing forms, and which common men
cannot understand.

We should know the nature of this True Model.
It has no form, yet it is not formless. This is not
saying that it is without any form, but that it is
not the ordinary form. It is composed of neither
ordinary, existing, nor non-existing forms. It is
neither one definite form nor is it the many differ
ent forms. This is not saying that it has no definite
form and that it is not in the many different forms.
It is neither one nor many different forms. Gener
ally speaking, as the world has many different
notions, all false, we call this the Unreal Empty
Form. But if false notions are given up, this is
then the most Keal.

B. Secondly, the Real.

When we speak of the Keal, we have already ex
plained that the True Form is apparently Unreal

72 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

but true ; in other words, that it is the true mind,
eternal, and unchanged, full of purity, therefore we
call it the Eeal One. But it has no form. When
the imperfect notions of things are given up, then
alone can we verify this truth.

2. The Eternal Soul immanent in the temporary.

The temporary arises from the forces of the
Eternal Ju Lai, the uniting of the eternal with the
temporary. It is neither the same nor different,
but we call it the Natural state of man. This
natural state has two meanings, namely, that which
embraces all things, and that which produces all
things : the first is called the Infinite Enlightenment,
the second the Finite Enlightenment.

A. Infinite Enlightenment,

By infinite enlightenment is meant that which
has no false notions and is infinite like space, one
with the True Form, as in instinct and intuition.
This is the natural state of the Incarnate True
Model (Ju Lai), and is called the original state of en
lightenment. This is to distinguish it from ac
quired enlightenment, which cultivates that infinite
enlightenment, for the two have the same thing in
common though it is only in part. Where there is
the original infinite enlightenment there exists finite
enlightenment in those who seek after it. Where
there exists finite enlightenment, there is more en
lightenment to be acquired.

Again, when one attains to the original enlighten-

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 73

raent, it is called the perfect enlightenment. When
one has not attained to the original enlightenment, it
is not perfect enlightenment.

For example, when an ordinary man discovers
that his former ideas were wrong, and is able to
prevent such ideas arising any more, such know
ledge on his part, though it might be called a kind
of enlightenment, is only finite.

Or when those learned in the wisdom of the two
lower schools (the primary and secondary, or smaller
and middle), or such Pusa saints as are beginners
in the Mahayana school are enlightened so as to
know that there is in one sense a difference and in
another no difference between these two classes of
ideas, we call their knowledge partial enlightenment.

Or when those, such as the saints who have
arrived at different stages of attainment, are en
lightened to know that there is in one sense a
resting-place and in another sense no rest, in order
to distinguish things more clearly, their knowledge
is called partial enlightenment.

Or when the saints have arrived at the highest
attainment with all the means of deliverance
completed and their thoughts exactly in accord
ance with the original enlightenment, and are
enlightened to know that when the false notions
began, these had no real beginning ; yet, in order to
escape far from microscopic anxious thought of
things, they are able to see the true nature of the

74 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

One Mind. This state is the eternal one which
we call the perfect enlightenment. Therefore the
Sutra says that when one can apprehend that which
is behind thought, one is on the way to Buddhist
wisdom !

Again, as to the beginning of imperfect notions
in the mind of men, these have no beginning. But
when we speak of their beginning, we mean that
they arise without thought, therefore are not called
enlightened, as they have not exercised thought.
As each thought has been transmitted without
interruption from the beginning, and men's minds
have not been able to free themselves from this, the
imperfect notions have been said to be without
beginning and to be finite enlightenment. If we
meet a man without these thoughts, we shall then
know the different stages in the development of the
mind, such as beginning, resting satisfied, consider
ing, ending, because without thought he knows
that there is really no difference in kind between
the enlightened neophyte's enlightenment and the
original enlightenment. For the four states are
co-existent and not independent, but are originally
all alike — different stages of one and the same
enlightenment.

(1) Next, original enlightenment in men appears
according to the different degrees of confusion in
two different states, but not separate from the
original enlightenment. These different states are

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 75

the state of pure wisdom and the state of
unspeakable blessing where things are incom
prehensible.

(a) The state of pure wisdom is that which exists
when, under the transforming influence of the True
Model, cultivating one's nature according to the
True Model till all departments of deliverance are
completed, when one reaches the state where the
temporary gives way to the eternal and is grafted on
to the Eternal Mind, manifesting itself in the three
spiritual institutions — of Buddha (Godhead), of Law,
and of Priesthood, hence called the perfect and pure
wisdom, because all who are dependent on the senses
alone are unenlightened. Those in the unenlight
ened state do not depart from the nature of
enlightenment ; they are neither destructible so
long as they depend on the original enlightenment
nor indestructible when independent of that. Just
as the water in the ocean, on account of wind,
forms itself into waves, wind and waves being
inseparable, and yet motion is not an attribute of
water (for if the wind ceases the waves also cease),
but the fluid nature of water remains indestructible ;
so the true nature of man is a clear pure mind.
Though on account of the rise of the wind of finite
enlightenment the pure mind is moved, the pure
mind and the finite knowledge in man's heart are
unseen and inseparable, but this mind's nature is not
finite enlightenment. If the finite enlightenment

76 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

ceases, then the imperfect notions will cease, and
the wise nature remains indestructible.

(b) The state of unspeakable blessing is the
practical, when it follows pure wisdom and is able
to do all sorts of wonderful things, being called the
state of infinite blessings, unceasing and natural.
In proportion to the natural goodness it abounds in
all kinds of blessings according to the need of all.

(2) Next consider the attributes of this en
lightenment. They are four great ones, infinite
as space and clear as a mirror.

(a) Infinite light of the Eternal (Eeal Emptiness).
It is very different from all thought and form. It
cannot be made apparent and enlightenment cannot
reveal it to the unenlightened.

(b) Infinite light of energy which influences
things and which is called the unseen forces (not
Eeal Emptiness). All appearances in the world
are brought about by this. They are without
appearing and disappearing, without loss or de
struction, eternal in the One Mind. All existence
is but the true nature of this Mind. Moreover,
all kinds of defilement cannot defile this. Its
nature of wisdom is unchanged, full of perfect
energy, influencing all men.

(c) Infinite light of the law of deliverance called
the invariable law of Salvation (not Unreal Law),
which sets aside the hindrances of pessimism and
the hindrances to ordinary wisdom and leads one

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 77

out of the state where the mortal and the im
mortal are combined so as to get into the perfect
free light of life.

(d) The infinite light of practice, called deliver
ance according to the law, shining on the minds of
all living beings, leading them to practise goodness
by methods suitable to their needs.

B. Finite Enlightenment or Acquired Knoivledye.

This is not like the knowledge of the Eternal
that there is only one way : hence finite enlighten
ment shows itself in many forms of existence.
These forms have no independent existence separated
from the original enlightenment. Just as with a
man who has lost his way, his losing of the way
depends on his original knowledge of his course
(for if he had no idea of the way at first, he
could not be said to have lost it), so with men,
it is because they have the idea of enlightenment
that they know they are unenlightened. If they
had no idea of enlightenment in the abstract, they
could not be said to be altogether unenlightened.
From imperfect ideas of unenlightenment men are
able to understand the meaning of words and true
enlightenment. If we dispense with finite en
lightenment, we cannot conceive of true enlighten
ment.

(1) First, finite enlightenment may be viewed
in three ways always inseparable from it —

(a) Sensation. When the unenlightened mind

78 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

is excited we call it sensation. When there is
enlightenment there is no excitement ; if there is
excitement there is pain, as effect follows cause.

(b) Consciousness. This occurs when following
any excitement one becomes conscious of something.
Without sensation there is no consciousness.

(c) Perception. This is formed when following
consciousness the external becomes real. Without
consciousness there are no perceptions of outside
objects.

Since there is an objective world, there arise
again six aspects of it according to another
classification, namely—

(a) Consciousness, which arises from outward
objects which the mind distinguishes between one
ajid another — between what it likes and what
it dislikes.

(&) Emotion. This follows consciousness and
produces joy and sorrow. These false ideas arise
from constant partial enlightenment.

(c) Attention. This follows emotion, reaching
after everything, seizing on joy and sorrow and
cleaving to them with the whole mind.

(d) Conception. This follows perception, dis
tinguishing it by giving it a name.

(e) Will. This follows the giving of names to
things in all sorts of action.

(f) Discrimination. This is the result of
different action, and is inevitable. We should know

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 79

that unenlightenment can produce all kinds of
false methods, because they are within the state
of unenlightenment.

(2) Next, infinite enlightenment and finite en
lightenment may be viewed together in two ways,
namely, where they are the same and where they
are different.

(a) As to where they are the same. Take, for
example, the various kinds of pottery : they are
all made of one clay. In the same way finite
enlightenments are manifestations of the One True
Essence, and the Sutras according to this doctrine
say that all things are eternal and divine. Perfect
enlightenment cannot be cultivated or made, can
never be added to, and has no form which can be
seen. That which has form to be seen accompanies
useful transformations. It is not the nature of
real Wisdom, for this Wisdom is invisible.

(&) As to where enlightenment and unenlighten
ment differ, it is like speaking of the different
kinds of pots made. Infinite enlightenment and
finite enlightenment differ according to their useful
transformations, and the infinite nature appears
different in the transformations.

(3) Next, the finite forces which control human
nature, such as the changes of mind and conscious
ness, arise from ignorance and unenlightenment.
They may be seen manifested in our feelings and
spoken of as mental powers. These mental powers

80 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

have five names. One is the faculty exercised
when in the midst of ignorance finite consciousness
begins. The second is the faculty used when the
mind takes note of something. The third is the
faculty used when all phenomena are put in the
objective. Just as outward things are reflected
in a mirror, so does this faculty reflect what the
five senses show instantaneously at all times. The
fourth is the faculty used when distinguishing
between the pure and impure. The fifth is the
faculty used when it reflects impressions from one
object to the other incessantly. It retains the
past infinite manifestations of one's own existence
with all their good and evil ; it ripens into the
knowledge of the causes of present and future
joy and sorrow which are the unfailing results of
our deeds ; it is able to call up the past, lay it
instantly before our mind and to call up our
finite knowledge of the future. Therefore the
phenomena of the three worlds (of desire, of form,
and of no form) are mind-made. Without mind,
then, there is practically no objective existence.
Thus all existence arises from imperfect notions
of our mind. All differences are differences of
the mind. But the mind cannot see itself, for
it has no form. We should know that all
phenomena are created by the imperfect notions
of the finite mind, therefore all existence is like
a reflection in a mirror, without substance, only

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 81

a phantom of the mind. When the finite mind
acts, then all kinds of things arise ; when the
finite mind ceases to act, then all kinds of things
cease.

Next, the faculty of thought. This comes out
of the fifth as above. In common men this is
very strong. The consciousness of self and of
environment and all the imperfect ideas arising
from these, trying to distinguish between all the
objects of the senses, is called thought, and is
also called the independent faculty, as well as the
faculty of distinguishing things. This increases
with the senses, with desires, and with their
sorrows.

(4) As to the origin of imperfect knowledge work
ing in the finite, common men cannot understand this ;
nor can the wisdom of the two lower schools under
stand it ; only the Pusa saints of Higher Buddhism,
when they begin to get right faith, and when they can
examine things properly and test the nature of
the True Model, can understand it. Spiritual men
can get a small insight into this ; but even the higher
saints when they have attained to their perfect state
cannot understand the whole of it. Only Buddha
(God) understands all. The mind from the beginning
is of a pure nature, but since there is the finite
aspect of it which is sullied by finite views, there
is the sullied aspect of it. Although there is
this defilement, yet the original pure nature is
6

82 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

eternally unchanged. This mystery only Buddha
understands.

When we speak of the original nature of the
mind, eternally without thought, we call it eter
nally unchanged. As the human mind originally
does not know the True Model, the mind does not
correspond with the outward universe. Then thought
suddenly begins and is called the finite thought.

Confusion from correspondence with the objective.
One can be delivered from this confusion by the
two lower schools and be kept far from it in the
station of full faith of the great school. Confusion
arises through feeling corresponding with the
objective. One can gradually avoid this by the
cultivation of the means of deliverance in the full
faith of the great school ; by the cultivation to the
First station in the pure state of the mind, all the
confusion will be gone. (To understand these and
the stations below, see Guide to jBuddhahood, trans
lated by the Author.)

Confusion through knowledge of differences by
correspondence with the objective. By means of
the second stage of separateness from the world,
and by means of deliverance in the Seventh station,
confusion will be gone.

Confusion through objective forms not correspond
ing with one another. By means of the Eighth
station of freedom from form (or the immovable)
all the confusion will be gone.

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 83

Confusion through subjective perception not
corresponding with the objective. By means of
the Ninth station, when the mind is free (in holy
wisdom) the confusion can be got rid of.

Confusion through subjective sensation not cor
responding with the objective. By means of the
complete ten stations of the saints one may enter
the state of Ju Lai, Buddhahood, and be delivered
from this last of the confusions. As the finite
mind does not comprehend the universal Soul, it
begins by the correspondence of faith to examine
into things and to rid itself of confusion. In its
progress towards purity of mind, it step by step
gets rid of confusion, and when it arrives at the
state of Ju Lai, it is able to be free from it
altogether.

The meaning of correspondence is that the finite
mind's ideas of the universal True Form differ
according to their stages of confusion or enlighten
ment, and that the perfected finite knowledge and
the outside universe are exactly the same. The
meaning of want of correspondence is that the
finite mind is unenlightened and has never known
these differences, and that its knowledge and the
outside universe are not the same.

Again, the confused mind is a hindrance to
thought and darkens the original wisdom of the
True Model. Ignorance is called the hindrance
of wisdom, and darkens the natural wisdom of

84 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

the world. What does this mean ? It means that,
owing to the confused mind, its perceptions, its
objects and thoughts are not in accordance with
the Eternal Nature. It means that, owing to the
universal True Form being eternally at rest,
without being finite or temporary, ignorance and
unenlightenment differ from the eternal, therefore
they are unable to follow the perfect wisdom of
all the universe.

(5) Next the finite state. This is of two kinds.
First, the rough ordinary state when it corresponds
with the finite mind. Second, the fine extra
ordinary state when it does not correspond with
the finite mind. There is also the lowest of the
ordinary, such as the state of common men, and
the highest of the ordinary. There is, too, the
lowest of the extraordinary, such as the state of the
Pusa saints ; and the highest of the extraordinary,
such as the state of Buddha. These two kinds of
the finite state arise from the different extent of
the influence of ignorance. As to cause and effect,
the cause is unenlightenment, the effect is the
manufacture of a false imperfect world. If the
cause is removed, then the effect is removed. If
the imperfect cause ceases, then the imperfect mind
which does not correspond with the real universe
also ceases. If the result ceases to be erroneous,
then the mind which corresponds with the real
universe also ceases to be erroneous.

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 85

QUESTION 4. If the finite mind ceases, how can

there be continuation ? If there be continuation,

how then do you speak of finally ceasing
altogether ?

ANSWER. What is destroyed is only the finite
state of the mind, not the mind's being, just as
wind in relation to water is a moving power. If
there be no water, the effect of the wind is not
apparent ; there is nothing to show it. If the
water remains, the state of the wind is made
apparent ; only when the wind ceases does the
moving of the water cease. It is not the water
that ceases to exist. So ignorance in relation to
the True Eeal Nature is made apparent.

If there were no True Eeal Nature of the mind,
then all existence would not exist ; there would be
nothing to show it. If the True Keal Nature of
the mind remains, then finite mind continues.
Only when the madness of finite mind ceases
will the finite mind cease. It is not the wisdom
of the True Eeality that ceases.

(6) Influences. There are four influences — the
confused and the pure — incessantly at work. The
first is a pure influence called the True Eeal One.
The second is the cause of all confusion, called
ignorance. The third is the confused mind, called
sensation. The fourth is the false world as^ known
to the senses and called the objective.

86 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Influences may be thus illustrated. Clothes
have no scent, but if any one smoked them with
incense, the clothes would then be perfumed like
the incense. So it is with influences. The True
Eeality is pure and has really no confusion colouring
it, but ignorance in man colours his views, so that
there is a confused state. The confusion caused
by ignorance has really no true purity, but the True
Keality influences the mind, so that there is an
effort after the true purity.

(a) How is it that confused influences are acting
incessantly ? It is in relation to the True Model
that there is ignorance as a cause of the confusion.
This ignorance colours the True Model in the
finite mind. As there is an influence at work,
there arise false imperfect ideas, and these colour
the True Model again so that one does not under
stand it. Unenlightenment then arises, bringing a
new world of false conceptions on account of this
result. These false ideas in turn colour other false
conceptions again, causing the mind to be fixed on
these and to desire to do all sorts of things, in
curring thus all kinds of trouble of both mind
and body.

a.a. The influences of the false objective world
are of two kinds, namely, those which arise from
increased thought, and those which arise from
increased action.

b.b. The influences of the false imperfection of

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 87

faculties are of two kinds, namely, those which arise
voluntarily from faculties producing the highest
saints of the lower school (the Hinayana), the
highest saints of the middle school, and the highest
saints (the Pusas) of the advanced school (the
Mahayana), causing them to suffer the sorrows
of life and change ; and those which arise involun
tarily from faculties producing ordinary men and
causing them to suffer the sorrows of successive
transmigrations.

c.c. The influences of ignorance are of two kinds :
first, those which arise from the very root of things
— intuition — which give rise to imperfect sensa
tion ; and second, those which arise from the senses
and desires, and which give rise to imperfect
impressions.

(6) How is it that pure influences are acting
incessantly ? It is because there is a True Model
able to influence the ignorant, a power at work
causing man's misguided mind to dislike the sorrows
of transmigration and to seek the joys of divine
rest (nirvana). As this ignorant mind is moved to
dislike transmigration and love nirvana, this fact
influences the finite mind to believe that its nature
is finite and to know that its finite mind is full of
false ideas ; and further, that there is no true
objective world before men, and that therefore they
are to cultivate some way of deliverance. As from
the True Model man knows that there is no

88 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

objective world, then the various means of following
and obeying this True Model arise spontaneously
(without thought and without action) ; and when
influenced by this power for a long time, ignorance
disappears. As ignorance disappears, then false
ideas cease to arise. As these false ideas do not
arise, the former objective world also ends. As the
forces cease to exist, then the false powers of the
finite mind cease to exist, and this is called NIR
VANA, when the natural forces of the True Model
alone work.

a.a. The influence of the imperfect mind is of two
kinds, namely, that which arises from positiveness
and literalness, as in common men and in those
of the two lower schools, causing them to dislike
the rounds of transmigration and, according to their
strength, to gradually move towards the unsurpassed
way of Buddhism ; and that which arises from the
five faculties of the mind, where the higher saints
start to copy the True Model to reach nirvana quickly.

1.1. The influence of the True Model, which is of
two kinds, namely, that which arises from subjective
influences of the True Model element itself, and
that which arises from outward conditions.

a.a. The influence of the True Model itself is
from eternal ages, having infinite resources complete
with benefits beyond all thought. It underlies the
nature of all phenomena.

On account of this twofold aspect the power of

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 89

these influences is unceasing, causing all men to
dislike the sorrows of transmigration and seek the
joys of nirvana, believing that in their own persons
there is the influence of the True Model, and that
therefore they have a mind to cultivate it.

QUESTION 5. If this be so, that all living beings
have the True Model in them, and that all will be
equally influenced, why should there be the infinite
distinction of believing and unbelieving, some first
and others later ? Should not all at the same
time know the power of the True Model, causing
them to diligently cultivate the means of deliver
ance, and enabling all to enter nirvana ?

ANSWEK. The True Model is originally only one,
but the degrees of ignorance are infinite, therefore
the natures of men differ in character accordingly.
There are unruly thoughts more numerous than the
sands of the Ganges, some arising from ignorant
conceptions and others arising from ignorance of
senses and desires. Thus all kinds of wild thoughts
arise from ignorance, and have first and last infinite
differences which Ju Lai alone knows.

Again, in the method of all the Buddhas there
are means of utilising their forces. The nature and
the means must be at work to be complete. Just
as wood, though it has fire latent in it (this fire
being the real force), cannot burn unless men know
this and use means to call it forth, so with men

90 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

although there is the power of the influence of the
True Model in them, if it does not meet with the
noble forces of the Buddhas and Pusas as a means
to call it forth, there would be no means of pre
venting wild thoughts and of entering nirvana.
And although there would be the force of outward
conditions, yet without the influence of the True
Model there would not be the power by which one
could discard the sorrows of transmigration and
seek the joys of nirvana.

If the forces and the means of utilising them
are complete, such as the force of the influences of
the True Model and also of the loving vows
of the perfected Buddhas and of the almost
perfect saints to save the world, there arises
a dislike to sorrow and a belief in nirvana
and the cultivation of a good character. When
the good character is attained, such people find
the Buddhas and Pusas teaching them directly the
benefits and the joys of the doctrine, and they are
able to enter into the way of nirvana.

b.b. The influence of outward conditions. This
is the power of outward forces, and these outward
conditions are incalculable. We indicate two kinds,
those of different methods and those of the same
spirit.

a.a.a. As to the influences of different methods,
they are those which operate when men follow the
Buddhas and the Pusas from the beginning of their

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 91

desire to seek truth till they themselves become
Buddhas, and which influence them all through
their course, be it in what they see or think,
whether through their own family, parents, or
relatives, or through servants, or dear friends, or
through enemies, or by means of the four attrac
tions (such as those caused by alms, kind words,
help and sharing in toil), even including all sorts of
incalculable means, in order to set in action the
power of the loving influences of the Buddhas and
Pusas, so as to induce all beings to increase in
goodness and benefit by what they see or hear.
These means are also of two kinds, namely, the
direct, which enables one to get saved quickly ; and
the indirect, which enables one to get saved after
a longer time. The direct and indirect means are
again of two kinds, namely, the progressive practice
and the final attainment.

bM. As to influences of the same spirit, all the
Buddhas and Pusas desire to deliver all men from
sorrow, and these spirits influence men constantly
without ceasing, and they are of the same nature
and wisdom and power, therefore manifest the same
spirit in all their experience. This is experienced
when men in their ecstasy are able to see the
Buddhas.

c.c. The difference between the influences of the
True Model is of two kinds. The first is the un-
corresponding. It is that of the common man or

92 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

of the two lower schools and first stages of the
Great School. These are influenced by their
consciousness and impression, but are able to
improve by means of the power of faith. They
have not attained to that correspondence of mind
with the Absolute whereby they are one with the
nature of the True Model, and have not attained
that experience which is natural and perfectly
corresponding to the work of the True Model.

The second is the corresponding. It is that of
the perfected Buddhas who have attained to the
state when their mind is not different from that of
the True Model, but corresponding to the nature
and work of all the Buddhas. In this state men
are able to act naturally by means of the power of
the Absolute Spirituality, and by the influence of
the Absolute to put an end to ignorance.
(c) Next note the confused state.
The influence of this confused state has been
going on from eternity without ceasing, but when
one reaches the state of Buddhahood this ceases.
But the influence of the pure state has no end ; it
has for ever a future ! It is the influence of the
Absolute Reality. The confused idea is ended and
the spiritual is manifested in the influence it exerts
on work and has no end.

(7) As to the nature and state of the Abso
lute, that of all common men, that of the lower
school, that of the middle school, that of the

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 93

advanced, and that of the Buddhas are without
a difference, only having more or less of it. It
is neither that which had an origin some time, nor
that which will end at some time ; it is really
eternal. In its nature it is always full of all
possibilities, and is described as of great light
and wisdom, giving light to all things, real and
knowing. Its true nature is that of a pure mind,
eternally joyful, the true soul of things, pure, quiet,
unchanged, therefore free with fulness of virtues
and attributes of Buddha more numerous than
the sands of the Ganges ; divine, unending, un
changed, and unspeakable. It is most complete,
without lacking anything, it is called the treasury or
storehouse or womb of Ju Lai (the Model Come),
and also the Divine Body of Ju Lai.

QUESTION 6. Now you have said above that the
nature of the Absolute is the same in all beings and
is apart from all forms, how is it that you speak of its
nature as having all these different possibilities ?

ANSWER. Although real and possessing these
possibilities, yet they are not different qualities ;
they are of one kind only, one Absolute Eeality ;
there is a likeness in all the different manifesta
tions, therefore they cannot be different. Again,
how do we say that there is a difference ? It is
in relation to consciousness and the finite that this
difference appears. And how does it appear ? As

94 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

regards the origin of all things there is but One
Mind, not an unenlightened Mind conjecturing at
things, for in the finite there are imperfect ideas.
The unenlightened mind begins to think of the
world around, and this we call ignorance. If this
finite thought conjecturing at things had not
arisen, there would have been great wisdom and
light. When the human mind begins to see that
there exists the unseen beyond, where the mind
nature is independent of this seeing, then it finds
that this unseen shines throughout the universe. If
the mind is excited or prejudiced, the knowledge is
not true knowledge. When it has not found its
true nature, it is not eternal, not joyful, not the
true soul of things, not pure, but is busy and
decaying, and therefore not free, and thus full of
confusion more numerous than the sands of the
Ganges. On the other hand, if the mind is not
excited or prejudiced by imperfect ideas, all sorts
of pure possibilities more numerous than the sands
of the Ganges are open to it. If in the human
mind there arises an idea to be followed, it is
because there is something lacking in the mind.
Thus the incalculable possibilities of the pure
Absolute Nature is that of the One Mind. There
is no need to think out any new idea ; it is
complete, and is called the divine state, the treasury
or storehouse or womb of Ju Lai.

(8) As to the work of the True Model — it is

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 95

that which is in all the Buddhas and Ju Lai from
that first moment of great love and desire to
cultivate their own salvation and then to save
others, to the time of their great vow to save all
beings throughout all future endless kalpas. They
regard all living beings as their own selves, though
they are not the same in form, for in reality all
living beings and themselves are manifestations of
the Absolute Keality without any difference ; then
with the aid of this great wisdom of the True
Model they put an end to ignorance, they see the
divine, and there arise naturally all sorts of un
imaginable service like that of the Absolute Eeality
reaching everywhere. Yet these beings are not
ordinary forms, for the Buddhas and Ju Lai are
perfect embodiments of the divine. The chief thought
is that they are not the ordinary ideas of the world ;
they are not ordinary workers, but such workers
as influence or inspire people in their experiences,
hence we say they are the work of the True Model.
(a) This spiritual work of the True Model is of
two kinds. The first is dependent on the senses
(positive and literal) and on what the mind of
the ordinary man and those of the two lower
schools understand by them, hence this kind is
called the common stage, as these people do not
know that their work is the manifestation of their
sensation, so regard it outwardly by colour and size,
but do not fully know.

96 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

(6) The second is dependent on the faculties.
It is what all the Pusas from the time they reach
the first station till they reach the highest station
have experienced, and is called the inspired stage
(Pao Shen). This stage has incalculable manifes
tations ; these manifestations have incalculable states,
and these states have incalculable blessings.

The results of this stage have also all kinds of
incalculable glories according to their manifesta
tions. They are endless and infinite, without
measure, ever present in their reactions, inde
structible, and never lost. These blessings are
the results of the perfect influences of the six
means of salvation (Paramita or Wisdoms) and of
the transcendent influences of the Absolute Eeality.
Thus the Pusa saints are full of immeasurable joy,
hence they are called the inspired spirits.

(c) As to what common men see, it is only
the rough outline. These men according to their
observations see all sorts of different living creatures
in the six kinds of beings (gods, men, ashuras,
devils, hungry ghosts, beasts); they have not
attained the state of joy, hence they are called
common spirits.

(d) As to what the Pusa saints know from the
beginning of their free ideas, and what begins to
appear to them by full faith in the True
Model, they know some of its characteristics, and
glory that they are ever present, immeasurable,

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 97

only manifest in the mind, and inseparable from
the Absolute Keality. But these Pusas still have
some imperfect notions remaining, as they have
riot reached the full Divine State. If they reach
a purer state of mind, and if they progress till
they have reached the utmost state, the inspired
is seen to perfection.

(e) When they pass beyond the sense and
faculties, there is no visible state, for the Divine
Soul of all the Buddhas has no outward form by
which they are to be seen.

QUESTION 7. If the Divine Spirit of all the
Buddhas is separated from form, how can it
manifest any forms ?

ANSWER. This Divine Soul is the essence of
all form, therefore it can manifest itself in form.
This is why we say mind and matter are eternally
the same. As the essence of matter is WISDOM,
the essence of matter is without form and is called
the embodiment of wisdom. As the manifested
essence of wisdom is matter, it is called the all-
pervading embodiment of wisdom. The unmani-
fested matter is without magnitude; according to
the will, it can show itself throughout all the
universe as the immeasurable Pusas, immeasurable
inspired spirits, immeasurable glories, all different,
without magnitude and without interference with
one another. This is what ordinary senses cannot
7

98 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

comprehend, as it is the work of the True Model
(Absolute Eeality).

(9) Now we show how Co proceed from the
finite to the infinite. This is called analysing all
experience of matter to mind. In all the six objects
of sense there does not exist false conjectures as
men's thoughts are. As the mind has no form, we
seek for it at all points of space in vain. Just as
a man having lost his way calls the east west,
although the east and west have not really changed,
so is mankind lost in ignorance, calling the mind of
the universe his thoughts ! But the Mind is what
it ever was, all unchanged by men's thought.
When men consider and realise that the Absolute
Mind has no need of thoughts like men, they are
then following the right way to reach the Infinite.

B. The rectification of erroneous conceptions.
All kinds of erroneous conceptions arise from our
own conceptions of things. If we could put away
these personal conceptions, there would then be no
false ones. These personal conceptions are of two
kinds, namely, false conceptions of the person
as the self, anthropomorphically, and false concep
tions arising from that.

1. That which regards personal being as self.

According to common language, it is of five kinds —

a. Hearing the Sutras saying that the eternal
nature of Ju Lai is in the end only vacuity like
space, some men, not knowing that this expression

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 99

was used in order to destroy belief in phenomena
as real, say that Space or Emptiness itself is Ju
Lai. How is this to be rectified ? Men are to
understand that space is nothing. It has no
existence and is not a reality. It is a term in
opposition to reality. We only say this or that is
visible in order that we might distinguish between
things. All phenomena are originally in the Mind
and have really no outward form, therefore as there
is no form it is a mistake to think there is anything
there. All phenomena only arise from false notions
of the Mind. If the Mind is independent of these
false ideas, then all phenomena disappear. This is
called the true glorious nature and wisdom of Ju
Lai, the Model Come (manifested), and not mere
empty space.

b. Hearing the Sutras saying that the nature of
all things in the world is unreal, even the final
nature of nirvana and of the True Model (the
Absolute Eeality), therefore they are also intangible
and eternally independent of all forms, some men,
not knowing that it was for the purpose of destroy
ing belief in phenomena that these expressions
were used, say the nature of the True Model and
nirvana is nothing but unreality. How is this
to be rectified ? They are to understand that the
divine nature of the True Model is not unreal. It
is full of infinite possibilities.

c. Hearing the Sutras saying that the treasures

100 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

of Ju Lai (the Manifested Model) are eternally
fixed without addition or subtraction, and are
potentially full of all possibilities, some men, not
understanding it, say the treasures of Ju Lai
contain both the distinctions of mind and matter.
How is this to be rectified ? According to the
True Model, there is no distinction between mind
and matter ; it is on account of the defilement of
the finite in the round of life and death that these
distinctions appear.

d. Hearing the Sutras saying that all the defile
ments of life and death exist because they are in
the treasury of Ju Lai, as nothing is independent
of the True Model, some men, not understanding
it, say the attributes of Ju Lai originally contain
everything that there is in the world pertaining to
life and death. How is this to be rectified ? As
the attributes of Ju Lai from eternity only contain
pure possibilities more numerous than the sands of
the Ganges, they are not independent of the True
Model. They never fail, and are not different from
the True Model. As to the defilements of the
world, they are all false ; they have no reality
behind them. From eternity they have had noth
ing in them corresponding to Ju Lai. If there
had been defilement in the nature of Ju Lai's
attributes, to get rid of defilement by causing men
to unite with Ju Lai would be an absurdity.

e. Hearing the Sutras saying that life and death

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 101

depend on the treasures of Ju Lai, and that nirvana
also depends on the treasures of Ju Lai, some men,
not understanding it, say that all beings have a
beginning, and as they have a beginning they then
say that the joys of nirvana which Ju Lai has
obtained have an end when he comes again in
carnate. How is this to be rectified ? As the
treasures of Ju Lai are without a beginning, so is
the state of ignorance without a beginning. If it
be said that beyond the three worlds — earth, heaven,
and hell, or form, desire, and no-form — there are
other beings, this is but the talk of non-Buddhist
Scriptures. Moreover, as the treasures of Ju Lai
are without an end, so is nirvana, which all the
Buddhas obtain, without end.

2. To meet the intelligent of the two lower
schools, Ju Lai only spoke to them of the True
Model as not like men (not anthropomorphic). As
he had not spoken fully to them of the temporary
nature of experience, they feared the rounds of life
and death and sought a false nirvana. How is
this to be rectified ? As the nature behind all
experience has no beginning, so it has no end—
this is the true nirvana.

3. Finally, to leave false conceptions, one should
know that purity and defilement are both relative
terms and have no independent existence. Although
all things from eternity are neither matter nor
mind, neither infinite wisdom nor finite knowledge,

102 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

neither existing nor non-existing, but are after all
inexpressible, we nevertheless use words, yet should
know that Ju Lai's skilful use of words to lead
men aright lay in this — to get men to cease con
jecturing and to return to the Absolute Eeality,
for the best human thought of all things is only
temporary and is not Absolute truth.

C. Different steps of progress. These are the
paths which all the Buddhas have passed through,
and the goals reached by the Pusas when they
have made up their minds to practise religion.
Briefly speaking, religious growth or progress involves
having three things : first, growth of perfect faith ;
second, growth in intelligent practice ; third, growth
in attainments.

1. The progress of perfect faith. It depends on
the kind of man, and the kind of character he has,
whether he gets a perfect faith worthy of progress.
This again depends on uncertainty of character,
whether tending to good or evil. If influenced by
goodness, believing that good and evil have their
respective recompense, if able to abound in all sorts
of good works, if tired with the sorrows of life
and death, if desiring to obtain the highest wisdom
by meeting all the Buddhas and by worshipping
and supporting them in person and practising faith
long under all conditions, then faith is perfect, and
the Buddhas and Pusas teach such how to progress.
Some, moved by great pity, are able to progress of

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 103

themselves ; others, on seeing the right doctrine
about to be attacked, are moved to defend it. Such
persons are able to progress. Thus, when faith is
perfect and the religious aim is fixed, they enter
the ranks of the upright and true fixed ones ; they
never go back, and are reckoned among the seed of
the children of Ju Lai, being one with the right
eternal Cause of things.

a. If the root of goodness in man be small, in
the long-run worldly affairs are like thick weeds
choking it. Although these people should begin
worshipping and supporting the Buddhas, they only
become the seed to be born in a better state among
men or in the abode of the lower gods, or may
become the seed of the two lower schools of
Buddhism, or may cultivate the great school. But
goodness is uncertain — it may have taken root or
may not. Or if men serve the Buddhas, though
they have not served them very long, yet, on
account of going through special circumstances,
they also may strike root and grow. This will
only be if they regard the Buddhas in a special
manner ; or if they also learn from the followers of
the two lower schools, they also may grow. On
account of following the example of others, they
also may grow. Those progressing for these latter
reasons are all uncertain. When they meet adverse
circumstances, they fall back from the highest
Faith to the two lower ones.

104 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

&. Next, what is the progress of perfect faith ?
Briefly speaking, it is threefold. First, it is
upright, having right thoughts of the eternal.
Second, it is profound, rejoicing to study every
thing that is good and to practise it. Third, it is
greatly pitiful, anxious to deliver all living beings
from their sorrow.

QUESTION 8. Formerly you said that all the
universe was but one state and that the natures
of the gods were not different from that of men,
so how is it that it is not only by the study of
the Eternal and by practice of all kinds of goodness
that one reaches that state ?

ANSWER. Man's nature is like a great precious
stone. It is bright and pure, but there is the
dross of the quarry on it. If men think only of
its precious nature, and do not use various means
to cleanse it, it will never be pure. Thus is it
with mankind. The nature of the eternal in them
is absolute purity, but it is defiled with infinite
dross. If men only think of the eternal, and do
not use various means to improve their nature,
they also will never get pure, because there is
infinite dross pervading everything. The practice
of all sorts of good is in order to purge away the
dross. If men practise all sorts of good, they will
naturally fall in with the eternal way.

c. Briefly speaking, the means are of four kinds —

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 105

(1) Cultivate the root of things, by looking on
the true nature of all things as eternal, without
beginning, independent of man's conception of things,
and not permanent in temporary life ; by looking
on all things linked together by a never-failing
law of deeds and their consequences ; by nourishing
a great pity and cultivating virtue joyfully ; by
seeking to save all men, not resting in the nirvana
of the two lower schools, as that which does nothing,
for the Eternal Archetype never rests.

(2) Cease from evil. It is by contrition and
repentance that one is enabled to cease from all
evil and prevent its increase. As one follows the
Eternal Nature he departs from all evil.

(3) Grow in goodness. It is by diligently
honouring and supporting the Three Precious
Ones, praising them, rejoicing in their good deeds,
and by seeking instructions of the Enlightened.
As there is love and respect for the holy character
of the Three Precious Ones, faith grows and one
desires to get the highest truth.

Besides the influence of God, there is that of
His law throughout the universe, and that of the
priesthood, the teachers of this law, by which one
is able to remove the hindrances to goodness and
be firmly rooted in it ; for one follows and obeys
eternal law and leaves mad hindrances far behind.

(4) Seek the Eternal's wish. It is an ever
growing desire to save all living beings without

106 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

exception, so that all may reach the Supreme
Nirvana (Best) of the Higher Faith, where one
follows and obeys the nature of the Eternal for
ever. The Eternal nature is vast and pervading
all living beings without distinction of this, that,
or the other, and is the final rest of all.

d. As an intelligent saint (Pusa) thus progresses
in religion, he begins to comprehend a little of
the Eternal state. As he comprehends the Eternal,
he discovers that the Eternal has made eight
kinds of sacrifices for men. He descends from his
heaven of ease (the Tow Swai). He becomes in
carnate and mingles with less fortunate beings. He
grows in the womb of obscurity. He becomes
well known. He sacrifices all other interests, even
his home, and becomes a priest devoted to the
Eternal. He knows true religion. He preaches
the law of the Eternal. He enters the true nirvana
of perfect peace.

But this intelligent saint (Pusa) is not called
the divine eternal embodiment. As in the in
numerable ages of the past there still remain
some deeds which he has not been able to free
entirely from defilement, so there are sufferings
corresponding to them in his circumstances, but
he is not bound by these imperfections any longer.

Since he is free by the power of the Great
Eternal to save men, the Sutra says if we speak
of the Pusa going down to some evil place he is

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 107

not really degraded thereby. It is only in the begin
ning that it appears so, and therefore he descends to
strengthen some who are hesitating in fear.

/. Moreover, the saint from the beginning of his
perfect faith is far from having any weakness, and
never has any fear of falling back to the state
of the two lower schools. Even if he hear that
nirvana cannot be obtained till after patient toil
through troubles lasting for immeasurable and
endless kalpas of longest durations, still he faints
not, as by faith he knows that behind all existence
there is naturally the supreme nirvana (Best).

2. Growth in intelligent practice. One must
know that there must be growth. When the
Pusa saints who from the first follow the correct
faith are about to complete the first term of long
kalpas, they then fully comprehend the Eternal.
It is in a state of complete independence of all
form, and they practise those five divine exercises
(Paramitas) by means of which they pass into the
supreme nirvana. (1) As they learn that the
Eternal has no selfishness, they then follow
obediently the practice of all kinds of divine
charity. (2) As they learn that the Eternal is
undefiled, free from the sins arising from the
longings of the five senses, they obediently practise
divine perseverance. (3) As they learn that the
Eternal is all-enduring, they obediently practise
divine endurance. (4) As they learn that the

108 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Eternal is ever clear, without confusion, they
obediently practise divine unchangeableness. (5)
As they learn that the Eternal is all intelligence,
free from ignorance, they obediently practise divine
wisdom or judgments.

3. Growth in attainments. This covers the
ground from the beginning of the holy pure state
up to the highest attainments of sainthood (Pusa-
ship). What attainments are these ? They are
those of the Eternal. According to the perception
of the senses, this would be called the objective
world, but in our present attainment there is
nothing outward but the eternal wisdom which
is called the Divine Body.

a. These Pusas in an instant are able to reach
all space throughout all the universe, adoring all
the enlightened gods (Buddhas), and requesting
them to explain the Eternal law for the sole
purpose of teaching and benefiting all living
beings, so as to get the spirit of the law and not
mere fine words. These saints sometimes hurry
over various stages of progress so as to get right
enlightenment speedily in order to help the weak ;
sometimes, after a term of countless long kalpas,
they may become Buddhas in order to encourage
the weary ones, and thus show by countless ways
how to attain Buddhaship. In reality, as the root
of the nature of the seed of sainthood is the
same, the growth is the same and the attain-

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 109

ment is the same, namely, through the Eternal
way. There is no such thing as omitting any
term, as all the saints must go through the three
terms, though they follow different ways with
different men. As men's nature, desires, and dis
positions are different, the saints use different
methods for their salvation.

b. Here the growth of this state of sainthood is
threefold and is very necessary. The first is that
of the true soul, which in no way differs from the
Eternal. The second is that of the different means
employed to meet the needs of all beings. The
third is that of his conceptions of things, where still
linger a few false notions disturbing him.

c. Then comes the saint perfection in all virtues
at the head of the world of form, showing them
selves as the greatest of mortals. In a moment
they correspond exactly to the Eternal Wisdom, and
all ignorance being entirely gone, this correspondence
is called the root seed of all wisdom. These saints
naturally possess powers beyond all thought, able to
manifest themselves throughout all points of space
for the good of all beings.

QUESTION 9. As space is infinite, worlds are
infinite. As worlds are infinite, living beings are
infinite. As living beings are infinite, the differ
ences of thought in them are infinite, and in such a
state their respective magnitudes cannot be deter-

110 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

mined, none can know or explain them. If ignor
ance is removed, then no vain guesses will exist.
How can we understand that which is called the
seed of wisdom ?

ANSWER. All the universe originally was only
One Soul needing not to conjecture at things. As
living beings only imperfectly see the world outside
them, their minds are limited and they begin to
make idle conjectures different from the reality,
thus preventing a right understanding of things.
All the Buddhas and Ju Lai (Incarnate Models) are
independent of the senses and omniscient. The
real soul is the nature of all things. This soul
shines forth on all minds. It has great wisdom
in innumerable ways, according to the different
needs of men so as to instruct them in all kinds
of ways. On this account it has been named
the seed of all wisdom.

QUESTION 10. If the Buddhas have a natural
power to manifest themselves everywhere for the
good of all living beings, and if all beings see their
manifested bodies, then men observe their various
modifications ; and if they hear their words, which
are good, how do you say that most people cannot
see them ?

ANSWER. The divine nature of the Buddhas and
of Ju Lai is one pervading all space without any

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 111

effort of the mind, therefore we say it is natural,
yet depending on men for its manifestation. The
soul of living beings is just like a mirror. If it is
not clear it cannot reflect. So if the soul of living
beings is not pure, the divine nature cannot be
properly reflected.

CHAPTEE IV

THE PRACTICE OF THE MAHAYANA FAITH

Having illustrated the principles, we now discuss
the practice of them. This is 011 account of those
who have not entered the ranks of the upright ones,
and so we explain the practice of Faith. What
faith ? what practice ? Briefly speaking, faith is
of four kinds. First, belief in the root of all
things — that is, rejoicing to think of God, the
True Model. Second, belief in the infinite merits
of divinity (Buddhahood), ever thinking of it,
drawing near to it, supporting and adoring it,
growing in goodness, and seeking all wisdom from
it. Third, belief in the great benefit of the Law,
always thinking how to practise all the different
means of salvation. Fourth, belief in the Priest
hood's ability to cultivate the right doctrine ;
having themselves found good, they help others
to obtain it ; ever rejoicing to approach all the

112 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

saints, and seeking to learn and practise the truth
as it is in the Eternal.

To realise the faith, practice consists of five stages.
These five are —

1. The stage of charity.

2. The stage of holiness.

3. The stage of enduring wrong.

4. The stage of perseverance.

5. The stage of preventing vain thoughts, and
the practice of divine wisdom or judgments.

A. How to practise the state of charity. If one
sees any coming to beg in their need, money should
be given them according to one's ability in order to
prevent covetousness in oneself and to make the
poor glad. If one sees men in trouble, fear, and
danger, the fear should be relieved according to
one's power. If men come to inquire about religion,
one should explain the various means according to
one's ability. In all things one should not seek the
honours of fame or wealth, but, simply feeling that,
having received benefit oneself, one should impart
the same benefit to others, so that they may return
to true wisdom.

B. How to practise the state of holiness. This
is to observe the Ten Commandments —

1. Thou shalt not kill anything.

2. Thou shalt not steal.

3. Thou shalt not commit adultery

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 113

4. Thou shalt not be doublefaced.

5. Thou shalt not curse.

6. Thou shalt not lie.

7. Thou shalt not speak vanity.

8. Thou shalt keep far from coveting.

9. Thou shalt not insult, deceive, flatter, or
trick.

10. Thou shalt be free from anger and heresy.

As for the priests, in order to overcome the
temptations of the world they should keep far from
the stir of the world and ever live in quietness,
cultivating few desires and satisfaction with their
lot, while mortifications should take place after
committing the smallest sin. Their hearts must be
moved with fear and most sincere repentance, and
in no way must they regard the prohibitions of
Ju Lai lightly. They should also guard against
appearances of evil, lest men should commit the
sin of speaking evil against the priesthood.

C. How to practise the state of bearing the
cross (enduring wrong). This is what is called the
duty of enduring the aspersions of others without a
feeling of revenge through the eight storms of life.
That is, to be the same in prosperity, in adversity,
in honour and dishonour, in good and evil report, in
trouble and in joy.

D. How to practise the state of perseverance.
The heart must be never weary in well-doing

114 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

of all sorts, having a purpose firm and strong, far
from any weakness. Thinking of having passed in
vain through all the great sorrows of mind and
body down through past ages without doing any
good is sad ; to advance in the scale of being
one should diligently practise all sorts of good.
Having obtained good oneself, one should make
this known to others, so as to speedily leave all
sorrow.

Next, although some men practise faith, yet, as
from former generations they had many grave sins
and delusions, they are troubled by all sorts of evil
spirits, or are bound by all sorts of affairs of the
world, or are troubled with sicknesses or with many
other trials ; they must therefore have courage
and diligence, and worship God (Buddha) night and
day at all the appointed times, repent with all
sincerity, seek light from Buddha, rejoice with
others' good so as to return towards true wisdom.
This should be done constantly without intermission,
so as to escape from all delusions and to grow in
all goodness.

E. How to practise the state of checking idle
thought and of cultivating sound judgment. To
check idle thought is to cease from being misled by
impressions and to follow and obey the rules. To
reflect is to differentiate between the different laws
of temporary existence and to obey the rules of
sound judgment. How are these to be followed ?

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 115

These two states are to be gradually cultivated,
not independently, but simultaneously.

1. As to the practice of checking vain thoughts,
it should be done in a quiet place, properly seated
and in a proper spirit. It is not the practice of
breathing air in a special manner into the body, as
is the custom of some religions, thinking thereby to
get the vital spirit of nature into the body, nor the
use of anything that has form or colour, whether of
empty space or of the four elements earth, water,
fire, and wind, or even of the knowledge gained by
any experience of the senses, for all kinds of ideas
as soon as thought of must be put away, even the
idea of banishing them must also be put away. As
all existence originally came to be without any idea
of its own, it ceases to be also without any idea of
its own ; any thoughts arising therefore must be from
being absolutely passive. Nor must one follow the
mind in its excursions to everything outside itself
and then chase that thought away. If the mind
wanders far away, it must be brought back into its
proper state. One should know that the proper
state is that of the soul alone without anything
outside of it. Again, even this soul has no form
and no thought by which we can conceive of it
properly.

a. Having risen from the sitting posture, whether
in going out or coming in, or in any work, at all
times one should think of the means of checking

116 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

vain thoughts, and should examine whether he
succeeds in it or whether he follows them. In
time one gets perfect in the practice and the mind
is at rest. As the mind is at rest it gradually gets
courage to proceed ; in this way it reaches the
peace of the Eternal, far beyond all trouble with
faith, increasing so that it will soon be so perfect as
never to fail any more. But doubters, unbelievers,
blasphemers, great sinners, those who are conceited,
who will not persevere, and such-like people, cannot
obtain this peace of the Eternal.

b. Note next that by this peace one knows that
in the spiritual world the peace of the spiritual
bodies of all the Buddhas and of all living bodies
are one and the same, and is called divine peace.
Know that the root of this peace is in the Eternal.
If this is continued, there gradually arises in the
mind an infinite peace.

c. If there should be some men without the
strength which comes from good deeds who are
troubled with evil spirits and the gods and demons
of outside religions, appearing sometimes in ugly
forms, causing fear to them whilst sitting in con
templation, at other times appearing in lovely
forms to tempt them, they should think of the One
Eternal Soul, then these appearances will vanish
and give no more trouble. These evil spirits,
whether taking the form of the heavenly beings,
of Pusa saints, or of Ju Lai, all full of per-

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 117

fection, or using magic formulae, or preaching
charity, morality, endurance of wrong, perseverance,
contemplation, wisdom, or discussing the one unseen
reality, the formless reality, the passionless reality,
without enmity and without love, without cause and
without effect — nothing but pure emptiness — say
that this is the true nirvana ! They also teach
men how to know the past and to know the future,
and how to know what is in the mind of others, and
how to have unfailing gifts of speech, causing men
to covet the fame and wealth of this world.

Or, again, these evil spirits cause men to be fre
quently violently angry or very happy, without
anything to steady them ; sometimes to have great
compassion, or to be sleepy or ill, or to be without
perseverance ; or they cause men to persevere for a
time and then to fall back worse than ever, to lose
faith, to have many doubts and fears, or give up
their practice of checking vain thoughts and make
them follow miscellaneous matters and be chained
by the many affairs of the world, so as to give men
a certain kind of peace, somewhat similar to the
true peace, but which is the product of outside
religions and not the true peace of the Eternal.

Or, again, these evil spirits cause men for one,
two, three, or even seven days, to remain in con
templation, as if enjoying delicious food ; they are
most happy in mind and body without any hunger
or thirst ; or they may be led to eat without any

118 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

control, sometimes much and sometimes little, so
that the countenance changes, and exhibits gladness
or sorrow accordingly.

As there are such things, religious people should
always wisely examine themselves, lest their minds
should fall into the nets of heresy. They should
carefully rectify their thoughts, and neither adopt
nor be attached to them, but keep themselves far
from all delusions.

One should know that the peace of outside
religions is of the senses, of the affections, to gratify
self, desiring the honours of fame and the wealth of
the world.

But the true peace is not in the realms of the
senses or in possessions, and even after contempla
tion there is neither the feeling of having attained
perfection with no further effort, nor conceit for
what has been accomplished. All trials gradually
dimmish.

If men do not cultivate this peace, there is no
other way to get the seed of Ju Lai, the Incarnate
Lord.

As the peace of this world mostly arises from the
pleasure which is given to the senses, it is bound to
the three worlds of form, of desire, and of no-form,
like that of the outside religions. Once men leave
the guidance of sound wisdom, there arise at once
i'alse doctrines.

d. Next note that those who diligently set their

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 119

minds on securing this peace should in the present
generation obtain ten advantages —

(1) All the Buddhas and Pusa saints throughout
all space always protect them.

(2) None of the evil spirits can cause them any
fear.

(3) They cannot be deceived by any of the
ninety-five kinds of outside religions.

(4) They are far beyond questioning the deep
things of the Buddhist religion, and great sins
gradually diminish.

(5) There is an end to all doubt and all kinds
of heresies.

(6) Faith in the world of Ju Lai (God Incarnate)
grows.

(7) They leave sorrow far behind in the
minds of mortals, while they themselves have no
fear.

(8) Their spirits become gentle and peaceable,
they put off pride and conceit, and are not troubled
by other people's opinions.

(9) Although they have not obtained full peace
at all times and in every place, they are able to
lessen their trials, and do not covet the world's
pleasures.

(10) When their peace is secured, they are
unmoved by any seductions of outside attractions.

2. Now, if men practise only contemplation,
the mind is damped, or gets weary, and does

120 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

not rejoice in all goodness, but is far from pity,
therefore it is necessary to cultivate reasoning
or reflection.

a. One should reflect that nothing made through
out the universe can last long ; in a moment it
may be destroyed.

I. One should reflect that all thought rises and
vanishes again like a wave, and is therefore a
sorrow.

c. One should reflect that all the past is misty
like a dream, that all the present is like lightning,
that all the future rises suddenly like a cloud
in the sky.

d. One should reflect that the bodies of all living
beings are unclean, full of all kinds of uncleanness,
and therefore not to be rejoiced in.

e. Thus one should reflect that all living beings,
from eternity down the ages, being influenced by
ignorance, live and die and endure all the great
sorrows of mind and body ; and reflect on the
endless trials of the present and on the immeasur
able sorrows of the future, which cannot be got rid
of and which men are scarcely aware of. When
all men's lives are so full of sorrow, they are greatly
to be pitied.

/. Having thought of these things, one should stir
oneself up to make a GEEAT VOW to lead one's
own soul to leave the finite and gain the infinite,
cultivate every means of grace to deliver all men

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 121

for ever from their sorrows and obtain the highest
joys of nirvana.

y. Having made this great vow, one must not
give up practising it or be weary in it, but at all
times and all places engage in every good that is in
one's power.

3. Whilst sitting in meditation, one's mind should
be bent on checking vain thoughts. At other times
one should reflect carefully in regard to everything
whether it should or should not be done. Whether
walking or resting, lying down or rising up, both
reflecting and checking vain thoughts should go
together. This is what is meant by the saying
that although we practise all these things, our
perfection is not really produced by ourselves,
but by the nature of the Eternal working
through us.

Again, thinking of the never-failing law of
cause and effect, and joy and sorrow as the
reward of good and evil, when we think of law
we must also think of this goal so difficult to
attain.

The practice of checking vain thoughts is to
sever the attachments of ordinary men to the
world, and to put away the fears and weaknesses
of the two lower schools of Buddhism.

The practice of reflection is to deliver from the
narrow sin of the two lower schools, who do not
have the vow of great pity for others, and who do

122 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

not keep far from ordinary men who do not practise
goodness.

In this way the two methods of reflection and
vain thoughts are mutually helpful to one another
and inseparable. If both are not practised, one
cannot then enter on the way of wisdom.

4. Next consider those who begin to learn the
five methods of this chapter, p. 107, and desire to get
right faith, but are timid and weak. As they live in
this world of extreme suffering, they fear they cannot
constantly approach God (Buddha) and personally
contribute to His service. Thus they fear they
cannot attain to this perfect faith, and have a mind
to renounce their search after it.

These should know that Ju Lai has most
excellent means to strengthen their faith. It
is by having the mind set only on the things
of God (Buddha), and by desiring that one may
be born in another world of Buddha and be con
stantly with Him for ever, far from all evil, that
one may attain this end. As the Sutra says, if a
man sets his mind to think only of God (Amitabha
Buddha), who is in the happiest realm of the west
(Paradise), and if his good deeds are in the right
direction, and if he desires to get to that happy
Paradise, he will then get there ; and as he is
always in the presence of Buddha, he will never
fall back.

If we reflect on the eternal nature of God

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 123

(Amitabha Buddha), and constantly practise this
method, one will in the end reach the place of
true wisdom.

CHAPTER V

THE ADVANTAGES OF THE PRACTICE OF
THE MAHAYANA FAITH

Having discussed the practice of these principles
we will now discuss the advantages of practising
them. We have already given a general idea of
the mysterious resources of the Buddhas of the
Mahayana school.

A. If any one desires to get a right faith in
the deep things of Ju Lai, and desires to be far
from error, which brings religion into disrepute,
and to get the Mahayana Faith, he should lay
hold of this book, study it and practise it. In
the end he will attain to the very highest truth.

B. If a man listens to this truth, and has
neither fear nor weakness, such a man is certain
to succeed to the rank of Buddha, and to be en
rolled as such by all the Divine Ones.

C. If a man should be able to reform all living
beings throughout all the systems in the universe,
in order to make them good, he would not be equal
to a man who for only the time he takes to a

124 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

meal studies this way of deliverance. The two
methods are incomparable.

D. Next, if a man takes this book, studies
and practises it only for a day and a night, the
blessings received would be incalculable. Even
if all the Buddhas of the universe were each to
speak of these blessings for incalculably and im
measurably long kalpas, they could not exhaust
them, for the blessings of the Eternal Nature
are endless, and the blessings to this man would
be also in like manner endless.

E. But if there should be any who speak
evil and do not believe in this book, the recompense
of their sin will be to suffer immense pain for
measureless ages. On this account all men should
respectfully believe and not speak evil of it, thereby
injuring themselves more and more and others too,
destroying every hope of deliverance by destroying
the Eternal Soul of the Three Precious Ones
originally in man (the soul of the universe, the
body of laws pervading the universe, the body of
men teaching these laws), for all the Divine Ones
attain to nirvana by this means, and all the Saints
attain Buddha-wisdom by the same practice.

F. Know that it is by this means that the Pusa
saints of the past obtained pure faith, and that it
is by this means that the Pusa saints of the
present obtain pure faith, therefore it is by this
means that the Pusa saints of the future must

THE AWAKENING OF FAITH 125

obtain pure faith. Thus all men should diligently
study and practise it.

THE CLOSING HYMN

Deep and wide is Buddhist Law,
This in brief I have declared ;
Godward are eternal stores,
Blessings give to countless worlds !

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION TO
THE LOTUS SCRIPTURE

MIAO FA LIEN HUA KING
(Nanjio's Catalogue of Tripitaka, No. 134)

1. Its Importance.

Its importance is apparent when we find that
it is the most popular of all Buddhist Scriptures
in Japan. Though Buddhism there has twelve
different sects, yet I found the Lotus Scripture on
the lecterns of every Buddhist temple visited. It
is also the chief Scripture in the Tiendai school
of Buddhism in China, and is therefore the chief
source of consolation to the many millions of
Buddhists in the Far East.

Its importance is also manifest when we
discover that its chief teaching of Life, Light, and
Love is in the main the same as that found in
the Gospel of St. John, the consolation of all the
devout in Christendom. The Lotus Scripture is

127

128 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

nearly the same size as the four Gospels and Acts
put together.

2. History of the Text.

It existed before A.D. 250, according to the
Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxi. p. 22. But
where it came from we do not yet know. Some
suspect it has an Egyptian origin.

There are three principal translations of it made
from Sanscrit into Chinese, namely —

By Dharrnerakcha between A.D. 265 and 316,
in twenty-eight chapters.

By Kurnaragiva between A.D. 384 and 417, in
twenty-eight chapters.

By Gnanagupta and Dharmagupta between
A.D. 589 and 618, in twenty-seven chapters.

The last purposes to contain additions to supply
the incompleteness of the first two versions. These
are numbered 138, 134, 139 respectively in Nan-
jio's Catalogue.

Burnouf first translated it into French, and
Kern translated it into English, S.B.E., vol. xxi.

3. Why translate it again ?

When this natural question is asked, the
answer is easy, though long, in order to make
it clear.

First, it is most important to bear in mind that a
large class of Buddhist Scripture, called the Fang

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 129

Teng Scriptures, in Sanscrit Vaipulia, were amplified
and diffuse editions of later date than the originals.
These were first introduced into China by
Dharmaraksha in A.D. 266-317 (Eitel). The
immense amount of utterly incredible local Indian
colouring, as seen in Kern's translation, makes
one long for the essence which is the manna on
which so many millions feed.

This we now find in an edition translated into
Japanese by K S. Fukagawa and published by
the Buddhist Nichiren sect in A.D. 1904, in ten
volumes. Eight of which contain the Lotus
Gospel (I call it Gospel because of its wonderful
similarity to the Christian Gospels), and two other
volumes are what might be called the Prologue
and Epilogue to it respectively.

Besides the Japanese text, there is in it, in
parallel columns, on the top of the page, a Chinese
synopsis of the Scripture which leaves out the
incredible Indian embellishments, giving only the
essence of the teaching. This synopsis is not
new by a Chinaman or a Japanese, but consists
of extracts made from the original Chinese
translation of Kumaragiva, so as to give the
essence of this Scripture with its Prologue and
Epilogue.

This synopsis or essence is what I now translate.
It has never been translated into any European
language before.
9

130 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

4. Order of Chapters.

The order of the chapters in the Lotus Gospel
is not the same in the Japanese version from which
I have translated as that of Kern, which is from
a Sanscrit version. I received my copy from the
chief abbot of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism at
Ikegani Tokyo. The order in each is as follows : —

Kern. Japanese.

I_X I-X are in the same order.

XI XI-XII

XII-XXIV XIII-XXV

XXV XXVII

XXVI ? XXVIII

XXVII ? XXVI

The Nichiren sect of Buddhism makes the
Lotus Gospel its main one, but has added two other
Buddhist Scriptures to it — one as a Prologue on
Boundless Eighteousness or Eternal Life, and the
other, as an Epilogue on Pu Hien Pusa, or Saint of
Universal Good.

5. Apostolic and Patristic Apologetics.

The attitude of the primitive missionaries of
the patristic period in China towards Buddhism is
full of valuable instruction to modern missionaries,
as it reveals the secret of their success in con
ciliating and winning over the early Buddhists,
not only to tolerate, but also to teach the higher

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 131

doctrines of Christianity. For example, the
following verse is found printed at the head of
several of the most popular Mahay ana Sutras

Highest, deepest Law profound

Saves from sorrows, countless woes,

Now I study to discover
The true meaning of Jii Lai.

Here we have an example of the Ancient
Mystery teachings of Eeligion. They were not
revealed to the multitude. Even our Lord spoke
only in parables, allegories — "dark sayings" — to
the multitudes. It was only to the disciples, His
initiated, that He spoke clearly (St. John xvi.
29, K.V.).

It is well also to bear in mind our Lord's attitude
to other religions. He did not come to destroy,
but to fulfil. St. Paul quoted Greek poets with
approval in his sermon at Athens. Justin Martyr
and St. Augustine referred to other religions as
being also derived from God, only that Christianity
was fuller and more perfect. This, too, is the
teaching of the latest and best authorities on
comparative religion in our days.

The remarkable Sakyamuni prophesy, of a
higher Teacher of religion than himself well
illustrates this, much like the Jewish prophecies
of the coming Messiah. Sakyamuni in the sixth
chapter of the Diamond Sutra, said —

" Five hundred years after my death, there will

132 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

rise another Teacher of religion who will produce
faith by the fulfilment of this prophecy. You
should know that He will plant the root of His
teaching, not in one, two, three, four or five
Buddhas, nor in ten thousand Buddhas, but plant
it at the root of all the Buddhas ; when that One
comes, according to this prophecy, then have faith
in Him at once, and you will obtain incalculable
blessings."

6. Modern Apologetics.

Once the truer Copernican system of the
Universe had superseded the Ptolemaic, fresh ideas
sprang up, giving to us new continents — America,
Africa, and Australasia.

When men thoroughly studied the value of
steam and electricity they became godlike in
power, and created a new heaven and a new earth,
or rather reduced their dimensions, so that messages
which a century ago would take years to transmit,
can now be sent in a few minutes.

Turning to the spiritual world, the result of
new ideas is not less startling. The conception of
powerful tribal and national gods which encouraged
men to make warlike aggressions for selfish ends,
has given way to the conception of one Universal
Kuler of heaven and earth, and to the brotherhood
of all nations, and it should, therefore, make men
cease from war and love and help each other.

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 133

From this view we are beginning to reap im
portant results in arbitration — treaties, and the
progress of Peace principles generally, and the
Hague Conference.

The conception that God had chosen a particular
race or caste, to be the sole depository of His Truth,
and the sole spiritual guide of mankind, is now
known to all leaders of thought to be an exploded
theory.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is " the Light of every one
that cometh into the world." St. Paul was specially
to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, so that they also,
as well as the Jews, might become spiritual teachers.

Since God is the great Father of all, and " so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son " to save it, it is incredible that He should
leave all outside the Jews and Christians without
any knowledge of the Way of Salvation.

Modern research has now made it abundantly
clear, that before the Jewish nation existed, God
had given true and right ideas to some in Babylonia,
Egypt, and in the land of Midian, which greatly
influenced both Abraham and Moses.

Nor were these the only channels through which
spiritual truth was transmitted. The New Testa
ment, in the clearest possible language, says
that

" In every nation he that feareth God, and
worketh righteousness, is accepted of Him."

134 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

In China we possess the lofty Ethics of Confucius,
advocating Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety,
Knowledge, and Mutual Confidence, in as strong
and eloquent language as that of any of the Hebrew
prophets. With regard to the doctrine of Im
mortality taught in the New Testament to Western
nations — we find that in the Far East, there is
what might be called a Fifth Gospel, or " the Lotus
Gospel," which for fifteen centuries has shone
throughout the Buddhist world in China, Korea, and
Japan with such brilliancy, that countless millions
trust to its light alone, for their hope of Immortal
Life. It will be abundantly evident to Western
students, that the wonderful truths taught therein
have precisely the same ring as those taught in the
Fourth Gospel, about the Life, the Light, and the
Love. The bearing of the Cross, by patient endur
ance of wrong and undeserved insults, is also in
culcated over and over again, in the same gentle
language as that of the Apostle of Love himself.

7. The value of Comparative Religion.

The reader may possibly ask — If this be so,
what further need is there of sending missionaries
from the West, to China and Japan, when they
possess this priceless treasure ? " I reply : For two
reasons —

First, because modern Christianity is the winnow
ing fan, which separates the chaff from the wheat ;

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 135

secondly, because Christianity helps to replace
atheism by faith in God.

Countless " Buddhas," vague " worlds," endless
mythologies, require to be well sifted in order to
separate the golden grains of wheat from the worth
less chaff. The doctrines of New Buddhism (the
Mahayana school) now taught, are so intermingled
and mixed up with Old Buddhism, and transmigra
tion concepts (derived from ancient Indian thought),
that only those who possess the fuller light of
Christianity can recognise in them the likeness to
true Christianity.

For example, the story of Kwanyin, given in the
25th chapter of the Lotus Gospel, is an Eastern
allegory, of the Infinite Love and Compassion of
God. It matters little whether " Kwanyin " as an
individual ever existed. The important point is
that Infinite Love and Compassion is raised to an
ideal, that inspires the life of all good men and
women just as in the parable of the Prodigal Son
in our Third Gospel we Christians have the ideal
of Infinite Tenderness and Forgiveness presented to
us as a model of what God the Father is.

It is worth noting that Chinese Buddhism is
now degenerate, and that comparatively few attend
the services, due to the fact that the priests are not
drawn from the higher intellectual ranks of society,
but too often from the lowest, and are not educated
like the Confucianists.

136 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Some years ago I stayed for weeks in a Buddhist
monastery, and took my meals with the Buddhist
Abbot, who was there for the special purpose of
training and ordaining new priests. A course of
fifty odd days was considered sufficient to fit them
for ordination ! This is the case even now, when
I witnessed two hundred and eighty new priests
being ordained in Peking in 1910. How can
such men lead Confucianists who have spent
twenty years in diligent study ? The best Buddhist
teachers in China are found amongst educated Con
fucianists who were converted to Buddhism after
completing their Confucian education.

But I have been present at Buddhist services, in
various parts of Japan, where the reverence and
devotion are unsurpassed by Christian worshippers.

One August morning, I witnessed one of the
daily services held at sunrise in Kyoto, at which
over five hundred worshippers were present, more
than half of them were men before going to
business. Such a sight I have never seen anywhere
in Christendom.

Besides this it has been a joy to me to find many
Japanese priests studying Comparative Eeligion,
and consequently our Christian Scriptures, with a
zeal and intelligence which Christian teachers might
well emulate, for without thorough knowledge of
the religion of others there cannot be intelligent
sympathetic teaching of our own.

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 137

I am told on good authority, that most measures
for the public good in Japan are led by those pro
fessing the Buddhist Faith. The extraordinary
progress made by Japan during the last fifty years,
may be attributed to the open-mindedness of her
people, their willingness and anxiety to learn the
" lest " of everything as inculcated in Confucianism
and in this Lotus Gospel, both of which the
Japanese have adopted. In this particular, the
Japanese have proved themselves to be faithful
followers of the " Gleam/' and so have reaped the
promised reward. It is only fair to recognise these
noble traits in the character of the devout in the
Farthest East.

Our Lord promised that the Holy Spirit should
guide His disciples into " all truth."

Alas that many blind teachers in the West are
teaching that only conventional religious truth is
sacred and Divine, the rest is secular and human !
This view of truth has been a great drag on human
progress, introducing a vicious conflict with Science,
and emptying the churches of intelligent men.
Happily there are now many bright prophets as
true as those of old. When the leaders of the
West and the leaders of the East understand each
other better, there will be mutual advantage, and
mutual sympathy and help in all that is best.
Considering the view so prevalent in the West, that
Buddhist salvation is based upon the doctrine of

138 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Karma, it is important to call attention to the
repeated assertions in these Scriptures, namely—

1. That of " Boundless Eighteousness or Ever

lasting Life " which forms the Introduction
or Prologue to the Lotus Gospel.

2. The Lotus Gospel of Life, Light, and Love

which is the main Scripture, teaches that
there is something far superior to Karma.

3. That of the Boddhisatva, or saint, Pu Hien

standing for good- will to men, which is the
Lotus conclusion or Epilogue.

4. All these Scriptures declare, again and again,

that man is not saved by his own good
works alone, but chiefly by the Grace of
God.

Hence all the temples abound with votive offer
ings, in gratitude to God for innumerable answered
prayers. All these facts have to be accounted for.

This Faith-Gospel, found in the Far East, teaches
that three things are sacred, namely — God, His
Laws, and the Teachers of these Laws. This is neither
Greek, Anglican, nor Eoman Catholicism (see
chapter xix.), but the Catholicity of the Universal
Church of God, of pure New Buddhism as well as
pure Christianity, to which men and women of this
twentieth century are called to return.

When the devotion of the East and West is
united, then the kingdoms of this world will soon

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 139

become the kingdom of our God and of His
Christ.

Secondly, missionaries from the West are still
needed in the Far East.

Because Christ the Incarnate God replaced the
atheism of early Buddhism by faith in God. He is
therefore not only the Great Atonement to bring
men to God, but is also the Great AT-ONE-MENT, to
reconcile the East and West, and bring them into
tune. It is at His behest that multitudes of
missionaries go forth to all continents and races
to-day.

He is described in the New Buddhism of China
and Japan, as " the Great Mighty One " par ex
cellence, who has broken the chain of Karma and
Transmigration, whereby countless millions were
bound for unnumbered ages, and has given de
liverance by the promise of an immediate entrance
into Paradise : " To-day thou shalt be with Me in
Paradise." And this, because His incarnation is
declared in the Lotus Gospel, to be different in
kind from that of all Buddhas.

The words which describe this tremendous
change are as follow : —

" Ta shih chih (Jap. Daiseishi) the Great Mighty
One ' is ' able to save those who being still in the
evil path of transmigration could not cross over
nor break away from the ocean of ever-recurring
rebirths (life and death). Those who see Him can

140 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

have all their sins committed during limitless
kalpas, removed. He is never reborn by the
usual process into this lower world. He invariably
resides in some of the Buddha lands (mansions of
heaven). He always preaches the Law and the
Doctrine to great multitudes, and thus acts as the
helper of God (Amida Buddha) " (Atkinson's Prince
Siddartha, p. 259). (See also General Introduction
on Buddhist Trinity, p. 12.)

In the Buddhist temple, where the Amitabha
Trinity is represented, it is very significant to note
that—

1. The central Figure always is Amitabha

(Jap. Amida), the Eternal, Ancient of
days.

2. On his right hand always is Ta shih chih (Jap.

Daiseishi), who has broken the power of
sin and death.

3. On Amitabha's left hand always is Kwanyin,

the Holy One who hears the prayers of
the world.

It is impossible to identify with absolute cer
tainty some of the personified virtues in the
Pantheon of the Far East, with the historical
religious leaders and saints of the West. But that
is not the most important thing.

With the exception of Sakyamuni (called by
the Japanese Shaka), who is used in the Buddhist

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 141

Scriptures more as God than as an historical
character, the names of Kwanyin, Pu Hien, are
not historical, but allegorical, like those ladies
Beatrice and Lucia in the Divine Comedy who led
Dante up from the Inferno, through Purgatory
into Paradise ; and, like " Christian, Evangelist,
Hopeful, and Great-heart," in the Pilgrim's Progress,
portray certain characteristics such as Wisdom,
Mercy, Patient endurance of wrong, Divine
strength, Spiritual power, etc. etc., and are just as
real as the characters in many modern novels
drawn from life. Kern also says in his notes to
his translation, "In all periods of the creed the
Buddha Sakyamuni is only anthropomorphic."

If we find the Far East idealising the same
virtues, and condemning the same vices, as we
do in the West, is it not a great common
working basis for the upbuilding of character
from both the Divine and human side, and also
the strongest bond of union between East and
West ?

Surely this should remove a great stumbling-
stone, and the varying forms of worship might
easily be tolerated just as we suffer differences in
national costume and language in local dialects and
customs, provided the fundamentals are one and
the same.

The most vital point to be noted now is

142 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

THE DISCOVERY

that the same religious ideals prevail among many,
both in the East and in the West, and that they
are set forth in these Scriptures for men to
materialise in their own lives.

Nor is this all. There are two other most im
portant objects to be gained by this translation —

First, the Unity of all religion. There was a
time when every religion considered itself true,
and every other false, but that has long been
superseded by a more just classification of all the
great religions, into good, better, and best. And
now we have a further advance by the latest
authorities, who say that as there are no longer
two sciences of mathematics, or astronomy, or
chemistry, or of electricity in the world, the time
is now come, to say, that there shall be only One
religion in the future, and that one will contain
what is truest and best in all past religions which
reveal the Divine in them.

The second object is to strengthen the forces
struggling against the selfish materialism of this
age by the united efforts for the promotion of
universal good-will, by all the children of God of
every race. When the ancient empires of Egypt,
Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome arose and
carried all before them by the might of innumer
able legions, which took possession of all lands and

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 143

property for their own, religious bodies arose in
Palestine, India, Europe, and Africa, whose aim
was to supersede such iniquity, by adopting the
very opposite methods for universal good. They
had no army, only preachers of the new kingdom ;
no weapons, but those of knowledge and love.
They renounced all property and family ties,
devoting themselves entirely to study and good
will to all in quiet monasteries apart from the
turmoil of life. The object of the one was to take
all, and of the other to give all. This was the
Great Eenunciation of all ascetics, whether Chris
tian or non- Christian.

Many Buddhists and Christians having tried
this method for two thousand years, without gaining
the assent of the leading nations of the earth,
have come to the conclusion that something more
is wanting now, as the materialists become more
materialistic than ever.

8. Present need — Organised co-operation.

It is not enough to have profound knowledge
and infinite love, it is also necessary to have power
to enforce international reciprocity and righteous
ness between classes, without monopolies to any.
We need a great Judge to be the terror of selfish
Governments. One federated central Government
armed for the whole earth, to enforce the righteous
will of God, instead of a score all armed for their

144 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

own ends, is the one great thing lacking now.
And this, the prophets of Eighteousness in all
religions have always proclaimed to be one of
the great characteristics of the kingdom of God
on earth.

Now let the clarion call go forth, from all
religions to co-operate in securing this end at once,
without delay. It is one of the greatest of all
needs, and when attained it will be the greatest
of all blessings, carrying in its train incalculable
other blessings. When the disciples of the Eastern
and Western Gospel co-operate with each other,
and with others, who are longing and groaning for
the advent of Eighteousness, then the great chasm
between nations and races and classes will be
bridged over. Eeligion will be crowned with victory
over brute force, and universal peace and blessing
will prevail.

The Eastern religions are mines of gold from
which incalculable stores of great value still lie
hidden in their vast and hoary literature unknown
to the Western mind. I have only picked up a
few nuggets which the best people of Far Eastern
Asia consider more precious than rubies and which
delight every truth-loving soul of the West, and
most of all those messengers of God who seek to
establish His kingdom in all the earth, based on the
common highest truths inspired of God in all lands
and throughout all the ages, pointing all to strive

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 145

for the highest that has been discovered or revealed
to man.

With these Introductory remarks I send this
book forth, in the hope that it may bring home
yet another aspect of the Faith as held by count
less millions in the Far East to the dwellers in the
Far West.

I shall be grateful to receive any criticisms
or emendations from either Chinese, Japanese, or
Western students, who are conversant with this
beautiful Gospel of " The White Lotus!'

THE ESSENCE OF THE LOTUS
SCKIPTURE: PROLOGUE

THE SCKIPTURE OF ETERNAL LIFE

[The Text of this Essence is selected by a Chinese Buddhist
from passages in the Wu Liang I King Naujio's Catalogue,
No. 133. Trans.]

CHAPTER I
Its Character.

The Gate of Infinite Law '

Explains all things,

Opens the Way to the Immortal,2

[NOTE ABOUT THE REFERENCES. For most of these numerous
references and footnotes I am indebted to the unwearied services
of the Hon. Mrs. E. A. Gordon, who has studied Buddhism and
Shintoism iu Japan so sympathetically and thoroughly, that some
of the leading priests there say that she knows their religion better
than any foreigner in their land. — T. R,.]

1 "Truly great and wonderful is their Teaching, 0 King, to
him that is willing to examine and understand it. ... Truly
blessed is the race of Christians . . . their Teaching is the Gateway
of Light." — Apology of the Philosopher Aristides to the Emperor
Hadrian, dr. A.D. 124-30. See p. 20, note 4.

2 Of. p. 156, note 4 ; p. 157, notes 2, 4 ; p. 162, note 1 ; p. 182.
The Secret of the Lotus is Immortality.

147

148 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Delivers from the bondage of Custom,1

Kemoves the worries of existence,

And gives great rest to the Soul.
It is a doctrine True and Good,

A great Kealm of Bliss

From an unsought Teacher.2
It gives a place of calm Joy,

Of Salvation, Protection,

And is a great Defence.3
It has a great and faithful Leader,4

Who is Eyes for the blind multitude,5

A Pilot, the great Pilot ;

A chief Physician,
The great, chief Physician,6

A Comforter —

The great Comforter.

Great is this awakening Light !

The great and Holy Lord,

By the incense of His virtue,

Makes all things fragrant.

He has no body to handle,

Nor is He non-existent —
Bodiless.7

1 Matt. xv. 2. See p. 175, note 2.

2 John xvi. 3 Isa. xviii. 19.

4 "Faithful Leader," cf. Isa, Iv. 4; Rev. i. 5. Also Heb.
ii. 10, where "Author of Salvation" is rendered also " Captain, "
and is "Prince" in Acts iii. 15, v. 21, "the Prince of Life," i.e.
Messiah. It is the same as " Leader," and may be compared with
Josh. v. 16.

• John ix. 39. 6 Mark i. 2, 3. 7 John xiv.

LOTUS ESSENCE PROLOGUE 149

The principles of all Goodness

Come from Him.1
Because of this Light

Pride and insolence disappear.
One becomes a new being.2
The heavenly anthem thunders,
With all kinds of music 3 earth resounds,
For this new Life one renounces
Every hindrance,
Wealth, wife, children, city life 4
Ungrudgingly : in word or thought,
Eeady to give head and brains

For others' weal :
Fearing not sword nor spear,
Nor wounds of curse, nor insult —

Enjoys a royal calm.5

1 John i. 7-10.

"The Wondrous Being, without form or substance, and yet
not a Non-Being, for to Him all things owe their existence."—
Wang Pi commentator of Lao-tze.

3 Jas. i. 17.

"A new people and a new race — men that know God, and
receive from Him what they ask." — Apology of Aristides, dr. A.I).
124-30. Cf. John iii. 7 ; Gal. ii. 15 ; Eph. ii. 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 17,
mg. R.V. "a new Creation."

5 The Niliongi (vol. i. p. 68) recounts that six months after the
reception of the Sutras and the Images of the Three Precious Ones
from Korea, i.e. in the summer of A.D. 553, the following report
was received from the province Kahachi : ' ' From within the sea
at China, in the province of Idzumi, there is heard a voice of
Buddhist chants, which re-echoes like the sound of thunder, a
Glory shines like the radiance of the Sun." In his heart the
Emperor wondered at this. Cf. Luke ii. 9-14, xv. 7 ; Rev. viii.
3-5.

150 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Following It one can surmount
All difficulties.

CHAPTER II
Its Teaching

Know well that now whate'er you ask
The Godlike One will quickly grant,1
Besides — a hold upon Eternal Life.2
After receiving this new Life
You can persuade others

To forsake their doubts.
There is a Way which enables

Its students to attain the Highest Wisdom.3
This Way is called

" Eternal Eighteousness,"
From Eternity until now

Its nature is calm.4

If evil thoughts arise, causing all kinds of ill,
And transmigration throughout many grades

Of animal existence,

Suffering all kinds of misery and poison,
Since desires are boundless,
The Kernedy must be also boundless ;
Since Law is boundless,

1 John xiv. 13, xv. 8. - John xvii. 3. s Luke i. 76.

4 " How calm it is, how quiet ! " as Lao-tze said of the Tao.

LOTUS ESSENCE PROLOGUE 151

Kighteousness is also boundless.1

The Mercy manifested,

Mark well, is real.

The Doctrine of " Eternal Righteousness "

Is true and upright,

Honours the Highest.2
All the Illumined 3 past, present, and to come,

Proclaim it.4

It uproots the sorrows of all beings,
Is truly great in mercy.
Formerly, when at college,
I studied at the Sages' feet
For six full years — earnestly
Learning their highest wisdom.

1 Rom. v. 18.

2 Luke ii. 14.

3 Heb. i. 1. "Illumined," another term derived from the
Mysteries; compare "Enlightened" in Heb. vi. 4, x. 32, R.V. ;
also 2 Cor. iv. 11-16. 0orto-/xoj, "illuminated," was the title
given to the Christian neophytes in the first centuries. See p. 175,
note 1 ; p. 192, note 1.

4 See p. 153, note 2 ; p. 202, note 1 ; p. 219, note 5. The
Indian Sakyamuni always maintained that the Religion revealed
to him was the Age then present ; and that the Buddhas who had
preceded him in the immeasurable ages behind all taught the same
Truth, namely, "The Way of the Buddhas." Cf. 2 Pet. ii. 5, mg.
R.V. "Noah, a Herald of Righteousness"; Jonah iii. 1-5; so
also St. Paul was "appointed a Herald and an Apostle" . . .
"the Message, i.e. Proclamation, wherewith I was entrusted"
(1 Tim. ii. 7, mg. R.V. ; Tit. i. 3 ; 2 Tim. iv. 17, R.V.). It was
the arrival of the "Time of Reformation" which was thus pro
claimed, the cessation of the "Times of Ignorance"; and "the
Way of God " was then explained " more accurately " to those who
already knew and followed it. Consult Heb. ix. 10 ; Acts xvii. 28,
xviii. 26 ; Rev. xiv. 6, R.V. ; 1 John ii. 7 ; Luke iii. 2-4.

152 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

I learned that men's dispositions

And desires differ ;

And that among them

Are all varieties of doctrine taught,

Whose one aim is to produce Good works.

But though, for forty years,

I practised them,

I failed to grasp the highest Truth —

Therefore I with others turned to seek religion

In some different way,1

Having failed to reach

The Highest Wisdom, I saw 2
In the river, in the stream,
In the well and in the lake,
In the brook and in the ditch,
And in the vast ocean,
The nature of the water is the same,
Although, apparently, it differs.
The beginning, middle, ending
Of men's speech may differ,
The phrasing follows one grammatic rule,

Giving one meaning.
So, in Eeligion, first we teach

1 Of. Gal. i. 6, 7, R.V. "called in the grace of Christ unto a
different gospel; which is not another gospel." Also p. 169,
note 1 ; on the differences between Hinayana the Old and
Mahayana the New Buddhism, none of whose sacred writings, Sutras,
are of earlier date than the second half of the first century A.D.
Acts iv. 12 ; 1 Cor. i. 21-24, ii. 6-10.

- Gen. i. 31.

LOTUS ESSENCE PROLOGUE 153

"The four Degrees of Saintship,"

In the Hinayana School.
To win the chief degree

The Middle School awards,
We teach " the Twelve Causes and Effects."
In the advanced Mahayana School
We teach " the Twelve Fang Teng l Books."
All the Buddhas — the Illumined Ones-
Teach the same secret,

From age to age,
That their Goal is God ! 2
Should you desire soon to attain

The Highest Wisdom,
You must learn and practise
The profound and highest Doctrine —
The Scripture of " Eternal Righteousness," 3
The Buddhism of the Mahayana School.

CHAPTER III
Its Effects

After untold kalpas of sorrow

Men fail to reach the Highest Wisdom,

Because they do not know

1 See note to Introduction, p. 131 ; also p. 255, note 5.
- Professor F. Delitzseh says that the signification of the Hebrew
word for God— El— is Goal. See p. 150, note 3.
3 Matt. xvi. 26.

154 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

How straight the Right Way is,1

Therefore they take the wrong,

And fall into many snares.
This Scripture originally came
From the home of all Illumined Saints 2
To sow the Seed of Wisdom
In the hearts of all mankind,
And abide wherever its disciples are.
Its effects are absolutely

Immeasurable.

It makes those who once were
Without aim in life 3
Desire to save their fellow-men.

With one turn,

With one hymn,

With one phrase,
There opens up before them
A boundless vista of Righteousness,
Reaching beyond this mortal life.
Quite fearlessly,
Like their Guide, they pass

From death to Life : 4

1 "The Great Tao is very level and easy, but men loved the
by-ways." — Lao-tze, B.C. 550.

2 Of. Acts iii. 24, R.V. ; Luke xxiv. 25-27; Acts xvii. 2-4.
See p. 4, note 3.

:i 2 Cor. v. 9-10, R.V. : " We make it our aim — our ambition,
mg. to be well pleasing unto Him."

4 See p. 148, note 4. Fu, who is worshipped in China with the
invocation " Omi to Fu" (the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese
" Namu Amida Butsu "), is called "the Guiding Buddha" Tsie-

LOTUS ESSENCE PROLOGUE 155

Like Him they pass

From death to Life.

Although they have not crossed themselves
They are able to aid others crossing over.

A youthful princely heir,
Although unable to manage State affairs,
Becomes at once revered by Ministers of State.
King and queen, with love abounding,
Constantly speak of him.

Wherefore ?

Because he is young and helpless.
The King of all Illumined Ones
United to this Lotus Bride,
Together they give birth to many Saints.
Already, in all spheres, they have from every

class

Won deep respect.
Such, evermore receiving help
From all the Buddhas — the Illumined Ones,1 •
Their love abounds to overflowing
Because of this new Law,
Though still beset with trouble
(Not having left all earthly cares behind),
Still can they show the Bodhisatvas' Way.
Like the great Dragon

yin-Fu, for He guides the disciple to Paradise. John v. 24, R.V.,
John viii. 51 ; Heb. ii. 14. Cf. Rev. vii. 16, 17, R.V. " For the
Lamb shall be their Shepherd and shall guide them unto Fountains
of Water of Life." See p. 180, note 3.
1 P. 252, note 3.

156 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Which, when seven days old,

Can young beget,

So, each seventh day, the Saints

Beget disciples,

Who practising the Faith

Obtain Salvation's fruits —

Likeness to God and His Messiah —
Without a difference.

Thus, practising with all their might,

Trouble is expelled.

Although they have not perfected

The practice of the Six Perfections,1

They are naturally ahead

Of all religious pilgrims,

Being the bravest and the strongest.
If one receives the Doctrine of this Scripture,
And reverently believes it,

As though seeing God,
Then he becomes like God ! 2
The weak in faith is transformed

Into the strong,3

Because of this august Scripture's power.
It is as though this body were endowed
With the endurance of the Immortal,4

1 The six Cardinal Virtues are— (a) Charity, (6) Morality,
(c) Patience, (d) Energy, (e) Contemplation, (/) Wisdom, which is
the highest; cf. p. 112.

2 2 Cor. iii. 18 ; Matt. v. 48.

3 Cf. Mark xiv. 66-72 ; Acts ii. 14-38, iv. 13, 29, 33.

4 Heb. xi. 27.

LOTUS ESSENCE PROLOGUE 157

And had arrived in Port !
All sins and doubts vanish at once ;
He is able all to help l
And yet possess abundant grace
To alleviate the great sorrows of his fellow-
men !

Still more — he can extensively exhort
Both priests and common people
To recite, copy, reverence, explain,
And practise according to this Law,
And, becoming very merciful,
Widely remove the sorrows of mankind.

Taking deep root in virtue,

He can cause the common folk
. To produce the holy fruits ;

Leaving mortality behind,2

Becoming free like gods ;

Each one enjoys the ecstasy

Of communing with God.3
This so abundant Grace of God
It is impossible to recompense.
It leads each living soul
To obtain a spirit-power.
Thus you, too, may become truly great
In mercy, and in goodness,
Eesembling after death the God-like One 4

1 2 Cor. xii. 9.

2 1 Cor. xv. 54 ; John v. 24 ; Eph. ii. 1, 8.

8 Ps. xxv. 12-14. 4 1 John iii. 2.

158 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Therefore you should extensively

This Scripture circulate,
And everywhere persuade
All men to learn, recite, copy and perpetuate it.
So doing, you truly are a child of God !

THE ESSENCE OF THE LOTUS
SCKIPTUEE

[The Text of the Chinese Essence is selected from passages
in the Miao Fa Lien Hua King, Nanjio's Catalogue, No. 134,
Trans.]

CHAPTER I
Introductory

I have heard

That when all arrangements
For the hearing of the Law l
Were ready and complete,
The disciple Adjnata,
The King of Maghadha,

1 It is noteworthy that Augustine on his arrival in Britain, dr.
59, wrote to Gregory the Great at Rome about the Royal Islaiid
called of old Glascon (i.e. Glastonbury), where "the first disciples
of the Catholic Law found an ancient Church, prepared by God
Himself, ... to which they adjoined another Oratory, etc. The
earlier Church was a wattled cell (by tradition) said to be founded
by Joseph of Arimathea, who planted the Faith in Britain in the
first century. But the term "Law" is very interesting as in
dicating a connection between "the Catholic Law " which spread
to the Western Ultima Thule in the first ages, and whose traces
Augustine found in the sixth century at the very time when the
Chinese Pilgrim Hiouen Tsang journeyed to India "in search of
the Good Guiding Law," See p. 235, note 1.

159

160 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

And an innumerable host

From all the heavens,

And all quarters of the globe, —

God's Angels and the saints of every age

assembled 1

To plant the roots of Virtue,
And realise the wish
Of all Illumined ones.
By kindness 2 practising
Divine Wisdom to attain.
God's great Wisdom 3 to comprehend,
And thus in Heaven arrive.
Then kneeling first at Buddha's feet,
Seated in rows, they listened
Whilst He explained to His disciples

The Mahayana Faith 4

The script of boundless, everlasting Eight-

eousness,

And taught the method of discipleship
Which God blesses.
To enjoy the ecstasy
Of " Boundless Eighteousness,"
And absolutely
Be at rest,5
Thus these assembled received

Unprecedented joy,

1 Heb. xii. 22, 23, E.V. and mg. ; Rev. v. 8-11-13.

2 Acts x. 38. 3 Rom. ii. 33.

4 Heb, i. 1-14. 5 John xiv. 27.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 161

As with palms folded and

With united heart God they beheld

Down from the lowest hell

Up to the highest heaven
His Voice they heard.

Sacred memorials of Him

Are raised in the Seven Pagodas.1

Sweet incense delights all hearts 2

As God's Law shines,

Illuminating all living souls.3
Though we see ordinary men,
Because of age, decay, and death,

Surfeited with grief ;
We see the Saints encountering

All kinds of trials

1 Rev. i. 4, ii. 13-20.

2 Incense was an integral part of worship from the earliest days
of man upon earth. It is mentioned both on the Creation and
Deluge tablets of Babylonia :

"Daily the God thou shalt worship with offering, prayer and

incense.

Towards thy God thou shalt have purity of heart,
This is the due of Godhead."

Of. Matt. ii. 11 ; and in the Liturgy of St. Mark: "The Priest
before the Gospel offers incense and saith thus :

"We offer incense before Thy glory, 0 God, do Thou receive it
to Thy holy and supercelestial and intellectual altar. Do Thou
in its stead pour down the grace of the Holy Spirit." Because
this "Incense is offered on account of the grace of the Holy
Ghost, which by means of the Gospel was given to the whole
world." See Introduction to Neale and Littledale's Translations
of the Primitive Liturgies of the Eastern Church.

3 2 Cor. iv. 3-6.

162 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

For preaching Immortality,1
Yet hearts and minds

Are full of joy

Because they seek God's Wisdom.2
We also see their knowledge deep,
And spirit strong, able to probe and follow
The Wisdom of all Illumined Ones.
We also see the sons of God
Possessing grace to suffer wrong,
Increasing insults, even to
Bufferings and blows.3
Patiently enduring all,
That they may follow in the Way of

God4

Those who " draw near " 5 to Wisdom,
With their might, "put off"5 distractions,

Unceasingly rejoice 6

Seeking the Highest Way.
Again, we see the sons of God
Have hearts unoccupied.
With this mysterious Wisdom,
They seek the Highest Way.
The limit of their realm

1 Acts iv. 14-20-29 ; 1 Pet. i. 22-25.

2 Rom. viii. 35-39.

3 1 Cor. iv. 9-12 ; 2 Cor. iv. 7-18, v. 1-4, vi. 4-10, xi. 23-
27, xii. 7-9; Phil, i., xii. xiii., R.V.

* 1 Pet. ii. 19-23.

5 Terms adopted from the Ancient Mysteries. See pp. 131,
197, 216, 252 ; Heb. vii. 19, 25, x. 1, 19-21.

6 1 Thess. v. 16.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 163

Is the Mystery of Goodness,1

All spiritual forces,

And rare wisdom.
God seated on His Throne
Presents the Mysterious Law 2
To such as seek to learn

And follow It.3

Now the World-honoured God
Desires His great Law to make known,
To rain down a great shower of Truth,4
To blow a great spiritual Trumpet,
To beat a great spiritual Drum,
To proclaim a great spiritual Eighteousness,5
To lead all living creatures,
To hear and understand,
And to all the worlds reveal

This Law

All human thought surpassing.
Those assembled listeners,

For thirty hours immovable, together sat

Listening to God ;
Saying 'twas as the duration of one short meal,

All this long time
There was not one in mind or body

Who felt tired.

1 Matt. xiii. 11, 23, 37, 38, R.V. 43, 44; 1 Tim. iii. 16.

2 Acts ii. 32-36, R.V. 3 John vii. 17, R.V.

4 John vii. 37-39 ; Luke xxiv. 47-49 ; Acts i. 8, ii. 4, 17,
21, 33.

5 Matt, chapters v., vi., vii. See ante, p. 131.

164 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

In this abnormal state of mind they dwelt ;
It was Divine ; therefore they persevered.1

And to-day the Godlike teach

This Mahayana Scripture,

Called " the Mysterious Doctrine

Of the Flowering Lotus " ;

Teaching that method of discipling

Which is blessed of God.

Heaven's music is awakened2

When man's soul finds rest,3
Seeking the Highest Way.

One must exert all mental effort,

Set free from all attachments,4

As 'tis most difficult to attract the Illumined
Ones.

Only in rare intervals are they met

1 Acts ii. 42, 46, the word here rendered "continued steadfastly "
is translated in Eph. vi. 18, perseverance.

2 On their arrival at the Interpreter's house John Bunyan makes
his Pilgrim exclaim : "A noise of Music for joy that we are here
.... wonderful ! Music in the House, music in the heart, and
music also in Heaven, for joy that we are here ! " It will surely
be noted by the reader that Jay and Music are the keynotes of
this Lotus Scripture as they are of the Evangelic message of the
New Testament. Most beautifully, also, Dante describes how in
accordance with the "use" or custom of the Holy Hill — "the
religion of the Mountain" — that whenever a disciplined soul
reaches the summit of the Healing Mount of Purgatory and is
received back into the Paradise from whence it came, the whole
mountain vibrates with sympathetic joy, and all the spirits down
to its sea- washed base with one voice cry, " Gloria in Excelsis."

3 Luke xv. 7, 10, 25.

4 The grace of "detachment" has always been much insisted on
by all Christian doctors of the Higher Life.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 165

Of clearest Vision,
When the mind grasps all.
I saw the Illuminator
In the midst of the lamps,1
Whose Glory thus shone forth.
From Him I learned that He
Desires to make this Living Scripture

known,2

Which is as crystal pure,
The root of all Illumined Ones' good deeds.
Now GOD sheds forth His Light
And manifests true Righteousness.
This all men should know,
Receive with folded palms,
For GOD showers down His Law like

rain3

To satisfy religious seekers —
All seekers — in the three Schools ; 4
If they have any doubts
GOD will clear them all away.5

1 Rev. i. 12-16, ii. 1, iv. 5, "lamps of fire," R.V., v. 6.

2 Rev. xx. 12, xxii. 19.

3 Deut. xxxii. 1-3 ; Hos. xiv. 4, 5.

4 The Hiuayana, the Middle, and the Mahayana Schools.

5 "Questionings," Luke xxiv. 15-17, 38-43, R.V. ; John xx.
24-31.

166 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

CHAPTER II
The Art of Saving the World

The Gate of Wisdom, of Good Works,

Is difficult to find and enter.1

The knowledge and vision of the Godlike One

Far reaching is and deep,

His tones are gentle,2

The heart of all delighting,

What GOD has wrought —

Is most extraordinary,

And difficult to explain ; 3

Only GOD and the Illumined

Can understand It fully.

The true Eeality, which we term " Law,"

Such as form, such as nature,

Such as appearance,

Such as force, such as action,

Such as cause, such as effect,

Such as fruit, such as reward,

1 Matt. vii. 12-14.

2 Dante lays much stress on the tones of the voice of the angelic
messenger Beatrice, the expression of the eye, the touch of the
hand, the smile, etc. etc., and refers to "the healing power the
hand of Ananias took" (Acts ix. 12, 17, 18). So, also, it was
evidently by the tone of His voice that Mary Magdalene recognised
our Lord when He appeared to her as a stranger in another form
—that of a gardener, after His rising. Cf. John xx. 15, 16, and
x. 3, 5.

2 1 Tim. iii. 15, 16 ; Rom. x. 20, R.Y.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 167

Such as the history of all things

And of Life's foundations,1
One should know this is " Living Seed," 2

The rest is chaff!3
The language of all the Illumined
Eegarding it is one.
When GOD speaks one should repose

Great trust in Him.4
The World-honoured Law is ancient,5
One must speak of It correctly.
Fold your palms reverently,
To show your wish to hear the Way

More fully.
Pause again, and yet again

Consider, for

My Law is profound, beyond imagining 6
If one desires to lead all living souls
To understand the Doctrine of the Illumined
And thereby Holiness attain,
And manifest it to the world ; 7
If one desires to instruct all living creatures
In the knowledge of GOD,
And manifest it to the world ;

1 To the Hebrews Torah, the Law, instruction means "the
Foundations of Life."

2 Matt. xiii. 37, 38, v. 44.

3 Luke x. 42. 4 Ps. xxvii., xlvi.

5 Job xv. 18-22, xx. 4-8 ; 1 John ii. 7 ; Luke xi. 42, R. V.
8 John i. 1 ; Job ii. 7-9 ; Rom. x. 6-13.

7 Col. i. 26, 27 ; 1 Tim. iii. 9, 13, 15, 16, R. V. ; 1 John i. 1-3 ;
John xvii. 6, 18.

168 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

If one desires to lead all creatures
To understand Divine Wisdom
And manifest it to the world ;
If one desires to lead all creatures
To enter on the Path of GOD
And make It manifest on earth —
Thou should'st know, Sariputra,
There is but ONE GREAT CAUSE *•
Enlightening every Sage and Prophet
Manifested in the world !
Oh, Disciples, men and women,
If there be any harbouring contempt,
Troubled with wrongful thoughts,
And unbelievers — therefore —
Cannot make It known
Because they have not grasped theKnowledge-
Now is your opportunity to decide,
And proclaim the Mahayana Doctrine.
In all the universe
There is but one Doctrine,
There can be no second nor third,
Beyond preaching GOD'S Goodness ; 2
The rest are merely symbols —
Shadows of the True.3
In one word, 'tis not the Lesser Vehicles
Which can deliver you.

1 1 Thess. i. 9, 10 ; Heb. iii. 12 ; 1 Tim. iv. 10.

3 Ps. xxxiii. 5, cvii.

3 Heb. viii. 1, 2, 5, ix. 11, 23, 24, x. 1.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 169

I made a vow to save all men,1

As each Enlightened One has done

In our Ancient Mahayana Vows ; 2

And now, the Way of Deliverance complete, —

All men may find the Path to GOD.3

All Law comes from one Source,

Always from the Eternal.4

The sons of GOD, practising this Way.

Shall, after Death, become immortal.

Whoever calls upon the Name of GOD,5

GOD'S Way has found already.

Of these who hearken and obey,

There is not one who shall not thus

Become Immortal ! 6
There is the Throne of Law Eternal
Which regulates all things in the worlds.
Law-breakers and unbelievers
Fall into all forms of sin.
If one companions with Disciples 7
In uprightness and goodness,

1 Herein lies the Root-difference between the first Buddhist
teachings — those of Shakya and the Hinayana School, B.C. 500,
and those of the Mahayana, the New and Greater Way— expressed
briefly in two words "Self," "Not-self," being thus in perfect
accordance with St. Paul — " No longer I but Christ," Gal. ii. 20,
y. 24, the self-negation taught by Christ. See p. 131.

2 Rom. ix. 1-4, x. i ; Phil. ii. 5-11 ; 1 John iii. 16.

3 Heb. ix. 7-15, x. 19-21.

4 Jas. i. 12, iii. 13-17.

5 Roin. x. 12, 13, 16 ; Acts ix. 13, 14— "Saints .... all that
call upon Thy Name."

6 John i. 9-18. 7 Luke xxiv. 13-36.

170 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Discoursing only of the Highest Way,
Learning, rejoicing, and praising Goo,1
Their converse is of serving Goo,2
And all the Enlightened.3

The generation of the wicked

Hear only the Doctrine of one School.

Being deluded, they disbelieve,

Break the Eternal Law,4

Thus falling into hell.

CHAPTER III
Allegories — The World on Fire

Fold the palms of your hands together,5

Let body and mind repose,
Then you will quickly attain rest,
And receive a portion of GOD'S Law ;
Your heart will become as peaceful as a lake,
Perfectly straightforward, guileless.6
When your mind is made up,
Then in a moment, by repentance

All is done !

1 Luke ii. 13.

2 Mai. iii. 16 ; Acts iv. 29-33 ; Heb. xiii. 8.

3 Heb. xiii. 8 ; Rev. i. 8.

4 Ps. i. 6 ; Rom. ix. 22 ; Matt. xiii. 13-15 ; Jude 12, 13 ;
1 Tim. iii. 6.

3 This is one of the Buddhist ways of showing reverence. Cf.
Tit. ii. 2, R.V. "reverent in demeanour."

6 Isa. Ivii. 15 ; Luke xix. 2-10 ; John i. 47-51.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 171

For all one's past and present efforts

And study of God's works

All lead back to God.1

This illustrated :

There is but one Gate,2

There is a great Power

Working for Peace and Uprightness,

And for this end there are

Seven great and precious Chariots,

Infinite in their dimensions.

One must empty his heart to receive each one.
The first is: " Great mercy and tenderness;"
The second : " Untiring perseverance ; "
The third : " Ever seeking good ; "
The fourth : " Benefiting others ; "
The fifth : " Immeasurable gifts ; "
The sixth : " Best and joy ; "
The seventh : " By this Keligion one is rid

Of all sorrow,
In the three realms."

Yet travelling in these chariots

Throughout the world, in all directions,

Men find no rest.

For this world is like a house on fire,3

Full of all kinds of griefs most fearful.

Always there is birth, old age, sickness,

1 Phil. ii. 13. 2 1 Tim. ii. 5.

s Cf. 1 Pet. iii. 12. Dean Farrar venders " Make yourselves at
home k in the conflagrations"; "think it not strange, etc.," of
2 Pet. iii. 10-12.

172 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Death, and their accompanying sorrows.

Such fires burn unceasingly.

But I have already left the world

With burning habitations,

And dwell in peace and calm,

Eesting in shady groves

In Paradise.1

Still in this world I also dwell ; 2
In it all creatures are My children ;
Here are countless troubles,
And I alone can save ; 3
Mounting these precious Chariots,
Make straight for the Place
Where true Eeligion is taught.
For unbelievers in the end
Shall endure hell's anguish ; 4
But those who study Wisdom,
Hear high droctrines.
Ever cultivating a tender heart,
They fear not death nor suffering,
Eenouncing all false teaching.
Cultivating the society of good friends —
They are without anger,
Of gentle disposition,

1 John xiv. 1-3. Sukhavati.

2 Matt, xviii. 20 ; Acts ii. 47.

3 "And besides Julai (the Model Come) there was found no one
who could save," is a phrase occurring in a Sutra translated into
Chinese by Ton Hing in A.D. 679.

4 Mark xvi. 16.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 173

In all things diligent,
Keverencing all the Illumined,
Eejoicing instruction l to receive
In the Mahayana Scriptures ;
Thus they will not accept
One verse of other Scriptures.2

CHAPTER IV

Faith
[Based on Fatherhood]

Greatly congratulate yourself,

You are receiving Treasures inestimable,
Priceless pearls — without the seeking.

Leaving your father's home,
Not knowing where to go,

And adding to poverty — distress.

Your heart repents and thinks of the
Gold, silver, precious stones,
Of which your treasury was full,
You find the Highest Treasure,
Fatherhood,3 all unsought,4

1 2 Pet. i. 5-10.

2 Eph. iv. 11-16 ; 2 Pet. ii. 1 ; 2 John 7-11 ; 1 Tim. vi. 3, R.V.

3 Luke xv. 11-24 ; John xv. 16.

4 This expression is very remarkable when compared with St.
Paul's words in Rom. x. 20, R.V. : " Isaiah is very bold, and saith,
I was found of them that sought Me not ; I became manifest unto
them that asked not of Me,"

174 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Inheritance, and slaves,

And many people — all your own,

In gratitude for GOD'S mercy

Who with kindness

Won our hearts,1
We through long nights
" Lay hold " of God's commands,
And begin to be rewarded, receiving
Great grace from the World-honoured One.2
GOD, with rare wonder, pities, instructs

And blesses us.

Eeverently we worship Him who is on high,
Offering Him all things
In the one chariot of Salvation,3
Which may be divided into three —

The elementary (Hinayana),

The middle (Madhyimayana),

And the advanced (Mahayana).

CHAPTER V
Medicinal Parables

Since one Earth produces all heroes,
And one rain waters them,
The unsaved may be saved,

1 1 John iv. 10, 19 ; Eph. iv. 32 ; Tit. iii. 3, 4.

2 See p. 99, note 2.

3 Rom. xii. 1,2.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 175

The dullard understand,

The weary ones find rest,

The dead may " live,"

And all rejoice —

Quickly are they revived !

Thus, all living souls

May hear this Law,

And peace obtain,

Afterwards becoming powers for Good,

Kejoicing in Eeligion,

That they may learn the Law of GOD.

Having found the Law,

Of blindness they are cured

In all their ways.1

According to their capacity,

Gradually they find the Way of GOD.

The Lord — Breaker of Traditions — 2

Himself to this world came ; 3

These important matters studied long

Ere making known His thoughts

To lead all men from bondage,

And rest and joy obtain —

The joy of this world,

And that of Life Eternal 4

1 I.e. they become enlightened or illumined. Acts xxvi. 16-19 ;
Eph. v. 8 ; Col. i. 12-14.

2 Mark ii. 23-28, iii. 1-5, vii. 1-13 ; Luke xi. 37, 38 ; Matt.
xv. 2-6-9 ; Luke xiii. 10-17.

3 John ii. 14 ; Phil. ii. 5-9 ; Heb. ii. 9, 10, 14, 15.

4 Matt. xix. 29 ; 1 Tim. iii. 8.

176 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

The sweet dew of purest Law,1
In spirit levelling all castes
To an equality ;

Without a difference of love or hate,
Without covetousness or friction 2
Again, all the sons of GOD
Stay their whole rnind and heart
Upon the Way of GOD,
Ever manifesting kindliness,
Knowing that 'tis Divine ! 3
The Spirit of the Law is ministered
According to their ability.4
What they practise is
The Way of Saints,5
Gradually qualifying
To become themselves divine !

CHAPTER VI
The Record of the Message

I, the Incarnate Light,6
Am not Beelzebub's agent,7

1 Hos. vi. 2, 3.

2 Philera. 16 ; Acts iv. 31, 32 ; Matt. v. 43-45.

3 Mic. vi. 8, E.V., a mark of the God-Way man.

4 Eph. iv. 6-16 ; Rom. xii. 5-8.

5 Acts ii. 2, xix. 23, xxii. 3, 4, xxiv. 14, xviii. 24-27 ; Matt.
xxii. 16.

6 1 Tim. vi, 14-16. 7 Matt. xii. 27 ; Mark i. 23-27.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 177

Although demons and demoniac men

Obey My command,1

But am the World-honoured HERO,2

The Law-giver of the Enlightened,

Who pities men

And gives Glad Tidings,3

Falling like sweet dew,4

Allaying fever, giving coolness.5

As like a weary soldier6 returning

From hard campaign am at once

Banqueted by the Great King,

And attained Divine Wisdom

And perfect knowledge.

Laying down My life 7

Ascending to Heaven,8

Where I shall ever help men 9

Through their boundless sorrows

To keep the Law of GOD.

I and you dwell in a Universe

Of Cause and Effect.10

1 Mark i. 23-27, R.V., iii. 11, v. 6, 7, mg. R.V.
2Isa. ix. 1, ii. 6. "Hero-God" (Expositor's Bible, G. A.
Smith).

3 Luke ii.

4 In the frescoes of the Roman Catacombs, Christ, the Angel of
the Dew, is depicted as the Fourth with the Children in the Fiery
Furnace.

5 Mark i. 30-34, 39.

6 Pss. xxiv. 7-10, Ixviii. 18 ; Eph. iv. 7, 12.

7 John v. 26, x. 10-17, 30.

8 Eph. iii. 8-10 ; Col. ii. 14, 15 ; 1 Pet. i. 10-12.

9 Mark xvi. 19, 20. w Gal. vi. 7.

178 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

It is My duty now to speak,
And yours to hearken !

CHAPTER VII
Parable of the Eternal City

Supreme and Universal is Thy Knowledge

Oh, GoD-like One.

Thou seest truths ancient and far-distant
Clear as if to-day.1

All the mothers weep2 for the Founder of the
Law,

Their holy King ;
Passing from grave to grave,
Finding Him nowhere3
Then the sixteen Princes (Apostles ?) 4
In the might of great mercy,
The suffering world to save determined.

" Holy Lord, the GOD of Heaven,

From Shakya's grave comes Shakya's voice 5

Always entreating,

Pity all sufferers.6

1 Heb. iv. 12, 13.

2 Zech. xii. 10 ; Luke xxiii. 27, 28 ; John xx. 11-13 ; Mark
xvi. 9, 10, E.V.

3 Matt, xxviii. 1-10.

4 In China the Rakans (Chinese Lohans) or Chief Disciples of
Buddha are 18, in Japan 16.

6 John i. 32-34. 6 Mark xvi. 15.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 179

Keverently we worship Thee,

Dwelling in blessedness.

Before Thee we stand,

Desiring that this blessedness
By all be shared,

So that we, and they with us,1

May enter on the Way of GOD."
The Law of Twelve Causes and Effects,
The Wisdom of the Goo-like One,
Is difficult to believe, or comprehend.
0 bid all men, " Be fearless," 2 " Fear not." *
And " shrink not back." 4
You may now arrive,
And enter in.
You who are very tired
May be made very glad —
Such gladness as you never had before.
You can now avoid the evils of this life,
And rest obtain,
This is the Eternal City,5
GOD'S one Chariot of Salvation,
Into three divided.
Balmy breezes waft sweet incense
From the flowers :

And gentle dews fall on the new comers.
Throughout the Heavenly Places

1 Heb xi. 40. 2 John xiv. 27.

8 Matt. x. 28. 4 Heb. x. 36-39.

5 Rev. iii. 12, xxi.

180 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

They dwell for ever with their teachers.

There, too, is ever a Spiritual Guide

Of most surpassing Knowledge,

Who understands the deep things of the

heart 1

And succours all in trouble.2
The City has great Gates, high Towers — 3
Is filled with men and women
Who at the Holy Place 4 arrived
Aided by the merit of all the Illumined.5
This City is spoken of as " Three Chariots,"
But, in reality, there is only
One6 Chariot of Salvation.

CHAPTER VIII

The Five Hundred Disciples 7

Five hundred disciples —
A great miracle !
The lost body of the Founder
Appeared clearly,
And flies to heaven
Like a God ! 8

1 1 Cor. ii. 10 ; Rom. viii. 27. - Ps. xlvi. 1-3.

3 Rev. xxi. 10-12; Ps. xlviii. 12-14: "He will be our Guide
•ven through death. "

4 Rev. vii. 13-17. 5 Heb. xi., xii. 1, 22-24.
• Eph. i. 10 ; Rev. vii. 13-17. 7 1 Cor. xv. 6.

« Luke xxiv. 50-52 ; Acts i. 6-11.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 181

After this their wills were strengthened,

And in Wisdom they progressed,'^

Feeding upon the Twofold Feast

With spiritual joy and meditation 1 glad,

For Life is without end ! 2

And Law is everlasting.

Inwardly and secretly the disciples

Continued in their New Way like Saints,

But outwardly they followed the Old Way,5

For few desired to resign life !

But, in reality, they purified Eeligion.

Marriage they had renounced,

Desiring only to be transformed.

As drunk with wine 4 they slept,

Not knowing they possessed a priceless

Treasure

In their inmost robes ;
But now they find their sacred Pearl 5
The poor should also share.
Their heart was greatly gladdened.
The rich, who possessed abundance,
Were unselfish, and shared
All things in common.6
Viewing these treasures, the poor were filled

with joy ;
Bodies and souls with joy o'erflowed.

1 Acts ii. 41, 42. 2 John viii. 51.

3 Acts ii. 46, 47, xxi. 20, 21, 24.

4 Acts ii. 12, 13, 15. 5 Matt. xiii. 45.

u Acts ii. 42-47 ; " the Fruit of the Light," Epli. v. 9, R.V.

182 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

CHAPTEK IX
The Simple made Wise

My aim accomplished,

And all human yearnings satisfied,

Learning the fathomless Secret of the Universe,

And of the GOD Supreme,

And Life Immortal —

All men, to save ;

The human Way which lengthens life,

The Divine which more secures, — e'en —

Immortality ! 1

My heart's desire is fully realised,
And, filled with joy unspoken,
I dwell in Peace, in God's own Way,
Which is the Highest — 2
The Good Law of the Sacred Lotus.
Like a lamp GOD'S Wisdom shone.
Hearing my Name 3

Proclaimed " inheritor among the saints," 4
My joy was full,
As though refreshed with dew.

1 " There is a law of health for the body and a law of health for
the soul ; ... the two together make up the Law of God," says
Professor Israel Abrahams of Cambridge, England, in his Festival
Studies. 1 Tim. iv. 8 ; cf. vi. 19 ; Matt. vi. 33.

2 Luke ii. 14. 3 Phil. ii. 10, 11.
4 Col. i. 12.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 183

CHAPTER X
The Spiritual Guide

Amid such things as these
In the Presence of GOD —
I heard the wonderful Living (Lotus) Scripture

Sentence by sentence,
And each thought made me glad.

I deliver all to you

To receive the Highest Wisdom.
God told Me, the Incarnate Great Physician,1
After My Death and Deliverance from

Death

That " if any hear " 2 a verse, or sentence,
Of this wondrous Living Scripture,
The thought at once shall gladden him,
And I also will " him give a name "

Amongst the Enlightened.3

All these disciples

Eevere the millions of Illumined Ones
Who, in all holy places,

1 Yakushi, the Great and Good Physician, who opens the eyes
of the blind, is frequently found among the images in Buddhist
temples of the Mahayana or Self-less School. Cf. Luke vii. 18-22,
R.V. : "Art Thou He that cometh ? " i.e. Messiah.

2 This Chinese expression is very common and not easily in
telligible in any other sense.

3 A frequent expression used by our Lord in the Fourth Gospel
and in the Revelation.

184 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Perform their great vow

Of saving fellow-beings

Who now are dwelling amongst men.

These workers — all the worlds
Should reverently esteem,
They should be reverenced
As people reverence Me ! 1
Because they descended into an evil world
To practise the Doctrines of this Scripture.
If these good men,
And devout women,
After My Death and Deliverance
Shall to only one soul
Preach this Scripture,
If but one line only,
Know that such an one
Is My messenger 2
And My ambassador
To execute My Will,3
How much more so
When he instructs the multitude !
I, the Great Physician, say
If a man in evil mood
Curses GOD,
His sin is light,
But should he use bad language

1 Luke x. 16.

2 Job xxxiii. 23, mg. ; Eph. vi. 20, R.V. Of. Philem. 1, 12, 13,

3 Luke xv. 7.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 185

To curse believing souls at home, or in

communities,

And to abuse the followers of this good Law,
His sin is greater far,1
Still, if he suddenly listen to this Scripture
He shall find the highest wisdom.
Know that such a man

Shall mount to the desired Heavenly Abode.2
If a man seek the Way of GOD,
And when in trouble
With reverent, folded palm
Turns to Me,

With countless songs of praise to GOD,
He gains incalculable merit.
But he who loves the study of this Word
Has joy surpassing that.3
I, Great Physician, now aver that
Of the many writings I inspired,
This Lotus Scripture is the chief of all.
Of this Scripture
I at present
Am almost jealous,

For, after My Death and Deliverance,4
Know that I, the Great Physician,
Declare that
He who recalls it
Chants it with reverence,

1 Matt. xii. 31, 32. 2 Luke xxiii. 43.

8 Ps. cxix. 4 Acts ii. 24,

186 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Proclaims it to others,
I will

Clothe him again 1

For other regions ;

Where all Illumined Ones support him.2

This man has strong faith

And high purpose —

The true root of all Goodness.3

Know that this man

Dwells with Me,4

I having ordained him

And laid Mine own hands on his head.5

All the saints of Highest Learning

Follow this Scripture.

It opens the Gate of Goodness

And explains the True Eealities.

The Treasury of this Scripture6

Is deep, strong, secret, far —

Far beyond the reach of men.

It connects with My Palace,

Is clothed with My Kobes,

He is seated on My Throne.7

I, the Great Physician, have other lands

1 Rev. iii. 5. The Primitive Liturgies speak of the "Vestment
of Immortality." Cf. also Rev. xix. 8, R.V., "the fine linen is
the righteous acts of the saints. " See p. 249, note 2.

2 Rev. iv. 4.

3 Jas. i. 6-8, 21, R.V. ; Phil. iii. 12-14.

4 Rom. viii. 9 ; John xiv. 23 ; Rev. iii. 20.

5 John xv. 16 ; Acts viii. 18 ; Rev. i. 17, 19.

6 Ps. cxix. 7 Rev. iii. 21.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 187

Which I am sent to save.1
Those who meet to seek the Law are many.
To train disciples,
Men and women,
Inquiring men,
Inquiring women,

Who listen to their Preaching of the Law.
Their followers
Listen, and believe,
Obey without resistance.
If the Preachers
Are in quiet places,
I constantly send
Dragons and demons,
The powers of the Air,2
Asuras, and such-like,
To listen to their preaching ;
Although I dwell in other lands,
I ofttimes give the Preachers
A vision of Myself.3
Should any wish to lose their weariness
To dwell with Me,

1 John x. 16 ; 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19.

2 Job i. 6-8 ; John xii. 31 ; Eph. ii. 2, iii. 8-10, R.V. : "That
now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places
might be made known through the Church the manifold Wisdom of
God." Cf. 1 Cor. iv. 9, R.V., "a spectacle unto the world, both
to angels and men." Also Eph. vi. 12, R.V. "the spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places." Also Judg. v. 20, mg.

3 Mark xvi. 19, 20 ; Acts vii. 55, xxii. 17-21, xxvii. 23. Cf.
also Acts xxiii. 11 with 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17.

188 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Bid them hearken to this Scripture.1
Those who have not heard this Word
Are far from Divine Wisdom.
But the House of My messengers, My dwelling-
place,

Is filled with mercy ;

My Kobes are gentleness and long-suffering,
My throne is in the unseen Eternal Land.
They sit on unseen thrones.2
If when preaching this Word
There should be men of evil tongue blaspheming,
Bearing swords and spears, or throwing stones,
If, after My death and Deliverance,
There be some able to preach this Scripture,
I will send them forth
To disciple men and women,
And faithful followers win,
To reverence the Holy Spirit,
Who leads all living creatures
And gathers them to hear the Law.
Should any desire to work them ill
By sword, or spear, or stones,
I will send men to tame them,3

1 Matt. ii. 28.

2 Resembling the fire in Pilgrim' 's Progress, which, although
deluged with water, burned brightly on owing to the secret
supplies of oil continually added by Unseen Hands.

3 2 Pet. ii. 12-22, R.V. "Tame," i.e. civilised men " born mere
animals." The eighth of Buddha's ten titles is Casta deva Manu
Shyanam— "the Tamer of all beings" ; and it is interesting to
note that the Greek word TraXeia translated in our English Bible

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 189

And will protect My messengers.
If you " draw nigh " the Holy Spirit,
You will find the Way of Saints ;
When, following the teaching of this Guide,
You will discover innumerable Enlightened
Ones.1

CHAPTER XI
God's Dwelling-place (Pagodas) 2

There are seven Shrines,

Facing the four points of the compass.

From the midst of these

A great voice rises,3

Crying, " Holy, holy ! " 4

"chastened" means originally to bind, then to tame, then to
chastise, and then to instruct. Cf. Ps. xxxii. 8, 9. Thus Pere
Didon says of St. Jerome, "the uncouth Dalmatian, the fiery
youth intoxicated awhile by pagan Rome, became a lion tamed at
the feet of Christ." And, again, Dr. Alex. Whyte has written of
St. Teresa that "all her life through she was as a lioness pallisaded
round by crosses until by means of them she became trans
formed into a lamb," Cf. Mark v. 3, "tame," A.V., Luke viii.
28, 35.

1 Heb. xii. 22, mg. 23, R.V.

2 Pagodas are not merely holy places where relics are enshrined
and the Scriptures are treasured, but seven gates (Churches ?) to
the heavenly city.

3 Rev. v. 11, "A voice of many Angels," R.V.

4 Isa. vi. 3 ; Rev. iv. 8. The Trisagion or Tersanctus is found
in every one of the Primitive Liturgies : ' ' the copy of things in
the Heavens." In that of St. Mark it is called "the holy hymn
of the Quickening Trinity."

190 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Sakyamuni,1 the world-revered One,

At the great Council was enabled

To reveal the Way of Saints,

The Goo-inspired,

The wondrous Lotus-Scripture,

Which He reveals to all

In such wise as this :

" I, the world-honoured One,

Speak words

All which are true,

These great Shrines

Are spiritual ferry -boats 2 to the Promised Land;

People call them precious Arks.3

In them GOD is revealed,

Hence they are, also, called

His precious jewels.4
Throughout all worlds,
Where'er the Living Word is preached,
It is My Shrine.5

This Scripture being therein heard
Eeveals to those thus gathered

1 Kern says he had not the slightest doubt that by ' ' Sakyamuni "
here is meant the Supreme Being, God of gods, Almighty and All-
wise (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxi. Introduction, p. 28). See
p. 226, note 6 ; p. 248, note 3.

2 A term descended from the Pyramid-age. Max Miiller says
that the Mahayana means "the School of the Great Boat."

3 Or "the Lotus of the Pyramids." In Japan the Mikoshi in
Shinto temples is the equivalent, i.e. the God -carriage in which the
Shintai or token of the God's presence rests.

4 Mai. Hi. 17.

5 Rev. v. 8-14, or Sanctuary ; cf. 2 Cor. vi. 16, E.V. nig.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 191

Its testimony, therefore they praise,

And Holy, Holy chant.

From all points of the compass —

Above, below —

All regions are transformed —

Countless millions of distant worlds." 1

A hush fell upon them all.2

They offered gifts of sweetest flowers.

Then Sakyamuni, with His right-hand Finger,3

Opened the seven seals,

And there came forth a great sound

Like the turning of a Key 4

Opening a great City-gate.

Then all beheld

Two Goo-like ones

Eeceiving a great assembly

In the open sky.5

The Vision seemed as though upon a cool

Lake-shore

Beside the glorious Lotus.
And a mighty wind rushed6
Through the branches of the trees.
From the beginning until now,

1 John xiv. 2.

2 Rev. viii. 1.

3 Of. Ezek. viii. 19, xxxi. 18 ; Dan. v. 5 ; Luke xi. 20 ; John viii.

4 Like the opening of the seven seals, Rev. iv. 1-5, v. 1-10,
xv, 5-6, xx. 11-15 ; also " the Amen with the Keys " of Life and
Death and " of the Kingdom of Heaven "—Matt. xvi. 19 ; Rev. i.
18.

5 1 Thess. iv. 16. 6 Acts ii. 2, iv. 31.

192 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

" Among the many Scriptures circulated, —

This Scripture is the chief.

This Scripture is difficult to follow.

If followed, even temporarily, I rejoice, —

All the Illumined Ones rejoice.1

For such men pleased the Illumined,

They are brave, progressive,

Well disciplined.

Those who quickly gain

The Way of GOD supreme,

Can after death this Scripture study,

More and more.

They truly are the sons of GOD,

In perfect goodness dwelling.

After My Death and Deliverance

They can better understand its meaning.2

The Messengers of Heaven are as eyes

To this awe-full world,

And can make it plain.

These Messengers of Heaven

Should be revered

Because they teach those who suddenly

Attain the highest Way of GOD."

1 In the Primitive Liturgy of St. Clement these words occur :
' ' Pray ye that are Illuminated ! For our newly illuminated
brethren, let us make our supplication that the Lord may confirm
and strengthen them. Let us, the faithful, all pray earnestly for
them, that the Lord may count them worthy, having been initiated
into the death of Christ .... and sharers of His Mysteries,"
etc. See ante, p. 175, note 1.

2 Cf. Luke xxiv. 5, 6 ; John ii. 19-22.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 193

CHAPTER XII

The Converted Persecutor l

Diligently practice philanthropy ;

Be not stingy :

Spare not thy body nor thy life,

The people of this world

May attain Eternal Life !

I have the Mahayana Doctrine

Called « The Lotus Scripture."

If in obedience.2

You constantly proclaim it—

Whether gathering fruit,

Or drawing water,

Collecting wood to cook a meal,

Or lying down, or sitting up,

Unwearied you will be

In mind and body.

Although the world is mine

I covet not its pleasures,

For I possess a wondrous Secret,3

1 Deva was a disciple of Nagarguna (Nanjio). Like Saul becom
ing Paul, Acts xxii. 13, 25.

2 St. Paul "not disobedient to the Heavenly Vision " Acts xxvi
19.

3 It is said that Keikwa, a famous Chinese sage, communicated
to Kobo Daishi, the young Japanese priest who was sent over to
Singanfu in A.D. 804, " a wonderful Secret." It was the doctrine
of Dainichi, the Great-Everywhere-Present-Sun (see p. 256, note 4).
On his return to Japan, Kob5 Daishi founded the Shingon sect, and
Dengyc Daishi, his colleague, founded the Tendai sect of Mahayana

194 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Known only to the few.

Possessing It,

My mind and body are unwearied.

Golden, purple-coloured.

All-powerful, fearless,

Having a binding power

To persecute the Saints —

Lo ! by miracle

I was converted to the True Way.1

Buddhism, which regard the Lotus Scripture as the basis of his
faith. Kobo Daishi united Buddhism and Shintoism in the system
called "Ryobu Shinto" (which lasted until forty years ago, 1868,
the Meiji era) ; transformed the rude Shinto Bird-perch into the
beautiful Portal called Torii, doubtless in allusion to "the Gate
way of Light" and the " Luminous Temples" which he had seen
in Singanfu, while the Chinese Emperor gave him a box of which
the central ornament was the Maltese cross which is on the
Nestorian inscribed stele at Singanfu. K5b5 Daishi also baptized
the Japanese Emperor Saga into Dainichi and wrote for him a
"Key to the Secret Treasure House." It is surely extremely
significant that the mitre worn by the priests of the Shingon sect
when receiving baptism is adorned in front with five figures
arranged in the form of the same Maltese cross. The central figure
being that of Dainichi, the "Jesus our Immanuel" of Christians
supported by Shakya and Amida, above and below being figures
symbolising Wisdom and "the Precious Birth," clearly the New
Birth of St. John's Gospel iii. 3, 5 ; by which the early believers
receiving baptism became 0or«r^os, "Enlightened Ones." The
baptismal robes are most glorious crimson brocade, interwoven
with shining gold. The curious designs thereon having been
handed down from Keikwa (or Huiko) and Kobo Daishi 1100
years ago. See p. 227, note 3.

1 Acts ix. 1-19. A frequent expression in the Acts of the
Apostles. See Revised Version, where it is accentuated by a capital
W "Way." Acts ix. 2, xix. 9, xxii. 4, xxiv. 14, 22, xviii. 25-28.
Shinto or Kami no michi, the Way of the gods. " I am the
Way," John xiv. 6.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 195

GOD says to all His followers,

And to those as yet unborn, —

If good men

And devout women,

Hear this Living Scripture

Of the Persecutor,

With clean heart and reverent faith,

Free from doubts

They will not descend to Hades.

E'en hungry ghosts and animals T

May attain to the Court of Heaven,

Dwell with the Illuminate

And always hear this Scripture.

Whether dwelling among men, or with the

Angels,

They will alike enjoy abundant bliss,
If in GOD'S Presence
They remain and grow.
And in a little while,
E'en in the islands of the sea —
I will reveal to them
This marvellous Scripture.

" When only eight years old

I pitied all the creatures

As though new-born babes —

Treating them with kindness

Bent on peace and gentleness.

1 2 Pet. ii. 12, R.Y. "born mere animals" ; cf. Ps. xxxii. 8, 9 ;
1 Cor. xv. 44, 45.

196 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

In all kinds of suffering

I cultivated virtue."
Before finishing this speech,
An Angel l then appeared
Saying he had heard
I had attained Divine Wisdom,
It needed only that GOD Himself confirm it.
I continued studying the Mahayana Law 2
Which saves all men from suffering.
I heard that

The form of woman is unclean,
Is not a spiritual vessel,
And that she has
Five disqualifying drawbacks : —
The first, she could not attain to heavenly

royalty :

(Second) could not become GOD'S Prophet ;
(Third) could not control the evil spirits ;
(Fourth) neither become Director of trans
migration ;
(Fifth) nor attain unto the form of God.

But there is a precious Pearl —

Worth a million worlds —

Which suddenly can

Change her into a child of GOD,

Eeigning for ever on the Precious Lotus -
Throne,

1 Cf. Rev. i. 20, ii. 1 with Acts vii. 38, ix. 10-17, 26, 27.

2 Le. the Inner Doctrine of the Greater Way.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 197

Perfect in knowledge.

The whole assembly pondered thoughtfully
And believed this Message.

CHAPTER XIII
"Hold Fast!"1

Afterwards, the evil world multiplied.
Goodness diminished,
Conceit abounded,
Love of money was supreme,2
Evil increased,

And men drifted 3 far from GOD.
Though difficult, yet still they may be taught.
We should brace our minds to great En
durance —

Determine to study and recite this Scripture,
To preach and copy it —
In every way to reverence it —
Sparing no pains, nor even life itself.
In this bad world
Most men are evil,
Cherishing conceit.4

1 "Hold Fast," a term from the Mysteries, Rev. ii. 13, 25, iii.
11. See pp. 151, 161, 251.

2 Cf. 2 Tim. iii. 1-5 ; 1 Tim. vi. 10, R.V.

3 Heb. ii. 1, R.V., "drift away"; 2 Pet. ii. 17, R.V.

4 1 Tim. iii. 6, vi. 4 ; 2 Tim. iii. 3, vi. 10, R.Y.

198 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Their goodness is a sham.1

Angry, coarse, slippery, and crooked,

Because untrue in heart.

Still — thanks to the great Holy Spirit,2

Who gradually prepares to tread the Way of

GOD—

Some reverently obey His Mind,
Are brave as lions,
Travel anywhere,
To any quarter of the earth 3
The Doctrine to explain ;
Practising it in their lives,
And pondering over its true meaning —
All through the wondrous power of GOD ! 4
There are many ignorant men
Cursing, blaspheming,
Carrying swords and spears—
But all these things must be endured,
For the followers of an evil world
Are ignorant.5

Their hearts are slippery and crooked,
Not having got what is to be obtained
Their heart is filled with pride.
Some ascetics

1 Matt. xiii. 20, 21 ; Hos. vi. 4.

2Neh. ix. 20, "Thou gavest Thy Good Spirit to instruct
them " ; Rev. iii. 6.

3 Matt. xxiv. 14 ; Acts i. 8.

4 Heb. ii.

6 1 Cor. xv. 9 ; 2 Cor. ii. 7-12, iv. 9-14.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 199

Ketire with monkish garb l

Dreaming that thus they follow the true

Way.

Despising others,
These cherish ill,

Ever following the customs of the world,
Falsely they call themselves " disciples."
To rid them of their sin,
Making a doctrine of their own,2
Madly deceiving people,
Ministers of State,
Brahmins, students,
And all disciples,

Us they calumniate with evil speech.
We therefore worship GOD,
Enduring all this wrong,
Eegarding them as froth—
For all we are gods ! 3
So with highest words
We should endure.4

Amidst an evil world

There are many fears

Lest evil spirits should possess us,

Curse us, and disgrace us,

Hence should we reverently believe in GOD

And don the breastplate of Endurance,

1 "Wolves— in sheep's clothing," Matt. vii. 15.

2 1 Tim. iv. 1-3 ; Rom. xvi. 17, 18.

3 Of. John x. 34, 35. 4 Acts iv. 19, 20.

200 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

That we may make this Scripture known,
And suffer all afflictions.

CHAPTER XIV
Peace and Joy

Those who endure insults,
Are gentle and obedient,
Not proud nor fearful,
Meditating solely upon GOD
And this world's vanity,
Speaking but little,

Wishful to know first the elements of Truth,
Then all the Buddhists,
Without distinction,
These men and these women,
Possessing all truths
Still have none !
Have no abiding
And are eternally so,
Yet dwell in perfect rest,
Like the Himalaya peaks,
Meditating upon right learning.
In order to direct their thoughts
To follow Eighteousness — and see Unseen
Things— l

1 2 Cor. iv. 16-18.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 201

Then the heart would be at rest

Without any weakness,

Not discussing others, or their faults.

There are problems

Which the elementary Hina school cannot

solve.

Only the advanced Maha can explain
Or comprehend deep wisdom.
Having washed away uncleanness,1
Put on clean garments,
Becoming pure within, without —
Are quietly seated on unseen thrones 2
From all trouble freed.
Then, with kind heart thus making known

the Law,

By night and day proclaim
Eeligion's highest Way.

1 Both Buddhists and Shintoists rinse their mouths and wash
their hands before offering prayer ; and pilgrims change their
clothes and sandals before approaching the Shrine ; see Gen.
xxxv. 2, 3 ; Ex. xix, 10, 11. So, also dr. A.D. 347, St. Cyril of
Jerusalem in his mystical Catechism says: "Ye have seen the
Deacon giving water to the Priest to wash his hands, and to the
Presbyters who Surround the Altar of God. . . . That cleansing of
the hands is a symbol that we must be made clean from all our
sins and iniquities." (See Ps. xxvi. 6.) And of old the custom
was that all who intended to be Communicants should wash their
hands. (See Neale and Littledale, Primitive Liturgies of the
Eastern Church, p. 179, " Office of the Prothesis as performed in the
Great Church and the Holy Mountain," and note that all Buddhist
temples in Japan are also called "Mountain" — as was this
Christian Church as well as the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. Cf.
Isa. ii. 2, 3 ; Ezek. xliv. 10-12 ; Rev. vii. 14.

2 Rutherford says, " I reign as King over my crosses.''"

202 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

If disciples can proclaim *

My wondrous Gospel

Without anger in their heart,2

Freed from hindrances and trouble,

Are not fretful : 3

Indifferent e'en to curses,

Also without fear

Of swords, spears, or stones,

And towards all creatures

Feel a great pity, —

A Father's pity, —

Like the GoD-like Ones —

A teacher's pity,

Like the Saints—

These messengers of GOD

Ever with gentleness preach the Law,

Are rich in mercy

And, in all things,

Ne'er grow heart weary.4

Some come to put hard questions,5

But all the Angels, night and day,

Because of this Law

Defend them.6

If a powerful prince were to arise,

1 Cf. Acts ix. 20-22, R.V. See p. 141.

2 Matt. v. 9, 22-24, 43-48 ; 1 Pet. ii. 1-3.

3 Ps. xxxvii. 1, 7, 8, 34-40 ; Heb. xii. 1.

4 Rev. ii. 3, R.V.

5 Luke xii. 11, 12 ; Matt. xxii. 15 ; John iii. 2-4, vi. 30,
42, 52.

6 Dan. vi. 22 ; Ps. xci. 11 ; Acts xii. 6-11.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 20!

Desiring, with all-conquering force,

All Kingdoms to subdue,

And win them to one spiritual Kealrn,

Under the Chief of the three Eealms,

Under the great Eternal King,

Who evermore endureth insult,

All creatures pitying,

Like a royal prince,

Distributes precious gifts.

Most precious of all this Scripture is

Above all Scriptures.

Ever treasure it ;

Never forget to publish it—

This is the very time to do so.

He who reads this Scripture

Shall be from sorrow free,

Free from pain or sickness.

His skin shall be fresh and white,1

Without disease,

Not mean nor ugly,

But noble-looking, like a saint.

All angels in the heavens

Kejoice to wait on him.2

Weapons cannot injure,

Nor poison hurt.3

If men curse, their mouths are dumb.

Fearlessly they travel like prophet-princes,

1 Job xxxiii. 23-25-27. ' Mark xvi. 17, 18.

3 Rom. viii. 31-39.

204 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Their wisdom shineth like the sun.

In dreams they see such wondrous things —

A hundred glorious visions,1

Such are their constant dreams,

So that at last e'en ill men say,

" This is the best Eeligion ! "

Conferring great benefits,

E'en all these fore-named gifts.

CHAPTER XV
Resurrection 2

There is a great multitude —

Chief singers, leaders, who are called by many

names —

One is " Upward-movers," 3
Another, " Travellers-every where," 4
Another, " Pure travellers,"
Another, " Travellers who rest in Peace."
These are Chiefs of multitudes.
The leading Prophets,
The honourable of earth who dwell in peace

and joy,

1 1 Kings xix. 4-8 ; Heb. i. 14 ; 2 Kings vi. 17 ; Rev. v. 11. Of.
Job xxxiii. 15-17 ; Ezek. i. 1 ; 2 Cor. xii. 2-4 ; Rev. i. 10.

" Like the Resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 12-58.

3Cf. Phil. iii. 13, 14, mg. R.V., "the Prize of the Upward
calling."

4 Acts viii. 4.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 205

With few cares, and fewer ills,

Teaching all unweariedly.

Their arm is strong,

Having great power to endure wrong,1

Only seeking the Way of GOD.

Amongst this multitude

I know not one, —

They were a multitude — all saints —

Each with a great history.

You should therefore all put on

Their panoply of progress 3

And be firm in your resolve.

By the wisdom of all the Illumined,

By the miraculous power of all the Illumined,

By the zealous power of all the fiery prophets,

By the daring power and awful majesty of all

the Illumined,

You now pass beyond the power of simple faith ; 4
And are prepared to suffer wrong for doing

good5

1 Eph. vi. 10, mg. R.V. 3 Col. i. 12 ; Acts ix. 13, 14.

3 Matt. x. 16-20. This idea is one of the most ancient in the
world, between 3000 and 4000 B.C. According to Maspero and
Budge, the stele |of Pepi of the 5th dynasty of Egypt and the
Pyramid of Teta, 6th dynasty, they speak of Khu as the "Shining
One " or "Glory " represented by a " Flame of Fire." Cf. Heb. i.
7, 14. Dante had much to tell of these Illumined Ones who
appeared as " Flames Incoronate " in Inferno and Purgatorio. Cf.
Heb. xi., xii. 1.

4Cf. Heb. v. 12-14, vi. 1, 2; Eph. iv. 12-14-16, R.V. ;
Jas. iii. 13, 14, 18.

5 1 Pet. ii. 19, 20, iii. 13-16, iv. 3, 4, 14-16-19.

206 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

I, Myself, now comfort all,

Cease, then, from doubts and fears.

All GOD'S words are true,

His Wisdom is Immeasurable,

Subdues the heart of men,

Causing them to desire the Way.

Thus progressing, with all their soul

Desiring Highest Wisdom,

My sons thus

Learn My Way.

Night and day progressing,1

Seeking the Way of GOD,

Your mind set on strong faith,

Wisdom ever diligently seeking,

Preaching all kinds of spiritual truth

With fearless mind.

I now tell you this true saying,

With your whole heart 2 you must believe it.

I am come from far

To teach and elevate.3

This teaching is the greatest earthly Treasure,4

There cannot be a doubt.

By worldly ways it is unstained,

And pure as Lotus on the Lake.5

Those skilled in answering objections

Need have no fear.6

1 2 Pet. iii. 18. 2 Heb. xi. 6.

3 John i. 18 ; Heb. i. 1-4. 4 Mark viii. 36.

5 Matt. v. 8, 6 Luke jcii. 11, 12.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 207

Bent on enduring wrong,

Upright with wondrous goodness,

Should any in regard to this Gospel

Doubt and disbelieve,

They shall be sent the way of evil men.1

CHAPTER XVI
Jillai is Alpha and Omega

I am a Secret,

Possess miraculous power.

As I was truly born of GOD,

Like Him My age is Infinite —

Millions upon millions of years.3

Even in ordinary affairs

I do the Incomprehensible,

According to necessity

In all places, saying,

My name is various,4

My age is various.6

Rejoicing in the elements of Faith,

1 John iii. 15, 18, 36. 2 Rev. i. 8, 14.

8 Na yen to. A numeral equal to a thousand million.

4 Isa. ix. 6, "My Name is Secret — Wonderful." Cf. Judg. xiii.
18.

5 "Ancient of Days," Dan. vii. 13. "Babe," "Child," "Boy,"
"Youth," Lukeii. 12, 27, 43, R.V.

208 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Where good deeds are but few

And misdeeds many—

Whether speaking of Myself

Or of others,

Whether directing Myself

Or others,

Whether My own affairs

Or those of others —

Whate'er I say

It all is true.

Wherefore ?

Because I truly see

The spiritual forms of the three Realms

Without birth or death ;

Whether retiring, or coming forth,

I am not of these worlds.1

And as to My death and translation,

'Tis neither real, nor unreal,

Not like, yet not diverse,

Unlike the three Eealms

But visible in all three Realms.

With these Signs 2

You see clearly Who I am,

Without mistake !

The Divine works I do

Are not passing illusions.

I am the Truth,3

1 Heb. vii. 15-17. 2 Matt. xi. 3-6.

3 John xiv. 6.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 209

Who am the Same,1

(" Yesterday, To-day — For ever,")

Without birth, or death.2

The Illumined appear on earth,

But are not quickly recognised.

Since the Beginning when I dwelt with GOD,3

Long ages past,

My life unmeasured is —

Through all Kalpas of Time.

I never perish,

The Way of Saints 4 I follow,

Which Life secures for evermore.

My Life is not ended

But multiplied.5

I have Medicine

To cure all sicknesses

As GOD, dwelling upon earth.6

1 "The Same "—not only in the Old and New Testaments and
Prayer-book, but also in the Egyptian Teaching. The "True
Same" of Buddhists, the "Very Same" of Christians. "Yester
day, To-day, For ever " is in the " Book of the Dead " as moderns
call the "Book of the Master of the Hidden Place."

2 Heb. vii. 3 ; Rev. xxi. 6. 3 John i. 1 ; Prov. viii. 22.
4Prov. viii. 20, 21 ; 1 Tim. vi. 12, 19, "Lay hold on the Life

which is life indeed," R.V.

5 Not long ago, a devout orthodox Jew was calling upon a friend
of mine on Easter Day. In the course of conversation he remarked,
"Do you know I always think that the physical resurrection of
Jesus is not so miraculous as His spiritual resurrection, I mean the
way in which for 1900 years He has lived in the hearts and lives of
countless millions of His followers, in all ages, and in all lands.
That to my mind is by far the greatest miracle ! "

6 Isa. liii. 4 mg. R.V. ; Matt. viii. 17 ; Luke vi. 19, ix. 42,
R.V., etc.

210 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

The man of scanty virtue

Not being well rooted in good works l

Is poor and mean,

Lusting after all pleasures

Which entice his heart,

Ignoring the net in which he once was

caught,2

Taking poisoned drugs
Which madden him,
He falls upon the ground.
Whether out of his senses,
Or in his right mind,
Trying all kinds of remedies
But deems the best ones bad,
And bad ones " fine, fragrant, tasteful,"
Procures all kinds abundantly
Then, mixing well, he swallows them.
Hence, the Illumined Saints
Send Medicine to their patients,
Seeking all to save.

True and not false,

This message send,
And speak these words :
" This Medicine is most excellent,
In colour, taste, and fragrance —
Each and all abundantly—
If you partake
Your troubles soon will flee."

1 Matt. xiii. 21, 22. 2 2 Pet. ii. 9.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 211

No longer will you suffer from your many
ills.

Seeing this good Medicine,

In colour, fragrance — all so choice,

Partake of it.

Of all disease you will then be cured,

Although the poison may have deeply entered

And destroyed the natural health.

But these beauteous-looking,

Fragrant medicines, though fragrant and sweet-
tasting,

Are really bad ;

Let Fathers ponder this.

I now found a Society

For doing good,

To make men take True Medicine.1

So write I now these words, —

" These are good remedies

Which I now bequeath

For you to take.

Do not vex yourself about their worth,

But cherish constantly a grateful heart.

Then your awakening mind

1 The Chinese call this the " Pill of Immortality." Cf. John vi.
27, 35. In A.D. 107 the martyr St. Ignatius of Antioch spoke of
"the medicine of Immortality," alluding to the Holy Eucharist.
St. Thomas Aquinas attributes four effects to Its reception —
"Nourishment or sustentation, growth, repair, delight." Cf. p.
92, note 4. The Council of Trent declared It to be "the Antidote
by which we are healed of our daily faults and are preserved from
mortal sin."

212 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Will know that this Medicine
Is truly good, beautiful, fragrant, and pleasant-
tasting ;

When you take it

All poisonous sickness will be cured."
Some will ask, " What is
This so-called good remedy,1
Is it not trash ? "
I say, " No !

Since I possessed the wish Divine
All men to save,

Good works reveal Eternal Source ; 2
And truly do I neither die, nor rise again,
But unchangeably remain, preaching Salvation.
Perpetually I exist for this,
With nature straight, and purpose gentle,
I live for ever — and I never die.
Here there is death which is no death,3
Drowned in a sea of trouble,4
But one desirous GOD to see
Fears neither death nor trouble,
Then I with all the Teachers

1 Cf. with this the Jews' questionings recorded by St. John
(vi. 52, 60, 66, p. 103, note 1).

2 "The Same." John i. 2. See p. 70, note 2.

3 "Dying, and behold we live." 2 Cor. vi. 8 ; cf. iv. 8-11, 16 ;
Rev. xiv. 13 ; 2 Tim. i. 10.

4 " I am not exhausted, I shall not drown. The palm flowers of
Shii — the Light — are over me. Blessed are those that see the
bourne ! " Such are the exclamations of the Pilgrim-soul in the

'Book of the Dead.:'

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 213

Became manifest upon a spiritual mountain,1

Being continually there

Besides in other places."

When the end of all things comes

And the last great fire is burning,2

I remain in peace in this sphere,

By Angels surrounded,

'Mid gardens, forests, palaces,

And all kinds of glorious things —

Splendid trees,3 sweet flowers and fruits

Where all creatures wander joyously—

'Mid heavenly choirs resounding —

Constantly making melody.

Dewy wreaths of flowers

Are offered before GOD and the Illumined.

This Pure Land never fades,

And all behold the burning up of trouble,

Fears, and every sorrow.3

This Paradise is full of saved ones.

There the Name of the Three Precious Ones 4

is not heard,
For there the Light of Wisdom shineth to

infinitude.5

For immeasurable ages 6
Rejoicing in their heritage.
You who are wise

1 Matt, v., vi., viii. 2 2 Pet. iii. 7-13.

3 Rev. xxii. 1-5. 4 Rev. vii. 14-17. See p. 217, note 1.

5 Note the great similarity between this and Rev. xxi. 22, 23.

6 Rev. iv. 9.

214 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Doubt not

But decide all to receive for evermore.
Mine are not empty words,
The meek I regard as My deliverers
To save men from all trouble.
Whenever one has this desire
To save and lead all
To reach the Highest Way-
He soon becomes Divine.
But they who constantly behold Me
And yet are proud in heart,1
Following their own desires,
Will fall into the way of evil men.
You should try men 2
Whether they follow " the Way " or not ?
And, as occasion offers, save them
By unveiling to them the deep truths of the
Spirit.3

CHAPTER XVII

Various Blessings

Heaven thunders Its speech,
Far doth the sacred sound resound.
The world-honoured One has power omni
potent 4

1 1 Tim. iii. 6, ft.V 2 1 John iv. 1.

3 1 Cor. ii. 3-10, E.V. 4 Matt, xxviii. 18 ; Rev. xix. 6.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 215

And age immeasurable.

All rejoice,

GOD'S Name in every realm is heard.

Forgiving, show'ring blessing on all beings.

Hooting them in good,

Aiding them reach the highest goal.

When all living beings

Heard of GOD'S age —

Boundless like this — x

They were able to receive Faith 2

From this one thought, " Clearly

This power of Faith

Immeasurable is."

If, in addition, wrong they could endure,

And in meekness dwell,

E'en were all kinds of insults added,

Their hearts unmoved would be,

Their minds be firmly set

To grow not weary

Nor sleepy, but ever be alert.

For eighty million years

They live on undisturbed,

Treasuring up this bliss within their heart—

They seek the Highest Way,

Obtain all knowledge,3

Amid all forms of study.

Still one glimpse of Faith 4

1 Rev. xv. 3, R.V., " King of the Ages."

2 Matt. xvii. 20. 3 John xvi. 13. 4 Mark ix. 23.

216 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Surpasses all iu happiness.
Holding fast this joy of the heart,1
Seeking the Highest Way.
Deeply believe this sudden faith
And its results

That by faith you can obtain them,2
So you may all

This Scripture of Immoral Life with rever
ence accept ;
If one truly be sincere,
Holy, straightforward, and reasonable,
He may suddenly grasp it,
Explain the word of GOD,
And, with deep faith, explain the Spiritual
In My presence.
My service is fruitful,3
Immeasurable, infinite.
North, South, East, West,
Above, below,
Courageously advancing,
All good possessing,
Eooted 4 in wisdom
And able to answer all questions.

1 A term derived from the Mysteries. See p. 251, note 1 ; also
1 Tim. vi. 12, " Lay hold on the Life eternal " ; also v. 19, " that
Life which is life indeed," R.V.

2 See Heb. x. 39, mg. ; xi. 1 mg., R.V., " Faith to the gaining
of the soul ... is the giving substance to — or, substantiates the
things hoped for, the test of things unseen."

3 John xv. 4, 5, 7, 8. 4 Of. Col. ii. 6.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 217

If you " lay hold" l of this Immortal Scrip
ture,

It will be as though GOD were present with you ;

If free from anger, or evil speech,

And reverent in all places where God meets
human souls,2

Humble, below all the disciples ; 3

Far from pride,

Keverent in mien and attitude,

Your heart resembling God's own,

Then you will say —

" Let us build temples here 4

For the sons of GOD to dwell in, in this
spiritual state

Let us be used by GOD,

Dwell ever with His children,

And act as though one family." r>

CHAPTER XVIII

The Messing of Glad Tidings
[Conversion ?]

After My Death and Passing-over,

Those who hear the Doctrine of this Scripture

1 See p. 251, note 1.

2 Heb. xii. 28, R.V., " Reverence and awe." Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 16,
lit. " Great is the Mystery of Reverence."

3 Mark ix. 34, 35 ; John xiii. 14, 15.

4 Matt. xvii. 4. 5 Eph. iii. 14, 15.

218 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Immediate joy can win ! l
And find a spring perennial of bliss
For parents, ancestors and kin-
Glad Tidings for their friends
Seizing occasions to make this Wisdom known
Among all creatures.2
Pleasures I grant
According to their wishes
To enjoy abundantly.3
The fiftieth man

To whom this Scripture is transmitted—
This hearer receives immediate joy,
Infinite, immeasurable,
And incalculable.
How much greater is the joy
When first heard in the assembly,
Where many are made glad.
Their happiness is greater far —
Immeasurable, infinite,
Incalculable, incomparable ! 4

1 In A.D. 552, when the King of Korea sent "The Image of the
Three Precious Ones " and the Hoke-Kyo or Lotus Sutra to the
Emperor of J^pan, he wrote a letter commending the most excellent
doctrine with Treasure so wonderful — that every prayer is fulfilled
to the heart's content. And the chronicle of the Nihongi records
that "the Emperor" leaped for joy, saying: "Never until now
had we the opportunity of listening to so wonderful a Doctrine ! "
Cf. Acts viii. 4-8, 39, xvi. 34, etc.

2 Mark xvi. 15, R.V., "Preach the Gospel to the whole creation."
Cf. Rom. viii. 22, 23.

3 Cf. Prov. viii. 14-21, 35 ; Acts iii. 6-8.

4 Luke xxiv. 53.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 219

The joys of this world are unstable,

They are like froth, bubbles, sparks.

We speak of the Doctrine of this Scripture

As " deep, mysterious,1

Able to save from millions of calamities."

Let the spirit be pure.

Let the robes be fragrant

And speech be always radiating.2

How much more must the heart be pure,

The choicest Teachings of this Scripture

making clear

By speaking and behaving them ! 3
One's blessedness then is infinite.4

CHAPTER XIX
The Blessing of a Spiritual Herald 5

If good men

And good women

This living Scripture follow, whether

Eeading or reciting it,

1 Of. 1 Cor. ii. 6-8. 2 Jas. i. 9-18 ; Heb. xiii. 15, 16.

3 2 Tim. ii. 21, 22, 24. A Chinese student who was converted
when in Japan sent this message to his missionary friend :
"Tell Mr. X. I am studying the Bible everyday, and behaving
it."

4 2 Pet. ii. 5, mg. R.V. (cf. Heb. xi. 7 ; 1 Pet. iii. 20).

5 Lit. a public crier ; cf. Jonah iii. 1-5 ; Mark i. 3-5 ; cf. p. 151,
note 4.

220 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Explaining or transcribing it,

These men shall receive —

Eight hundred marks for the eye,

Twelve hundred for the ear,

Eight hundred for the nose,

Twelve hundred for the tongue,

Eight hundred for the body,

Twelve hundred for the mind.

For all these good marks,1

All faculties most precious,

In all eight hundred eye-marks,

The sight is glorious !

On account of this glory

The eyes are most clear-sighted.2

The ears given them by their parents

Are clean without impurity.

Ever with this ear hearkening to

The cries of all the world,

Whether reading or reciting Sacred Books,

Or telling others of them.

The True Preacher dwells there,

And everything can hear,3

Down to the depth of hell,

Up to the vault of heaven.

1 Of. Gal. vi. 17, R.V. Dante mentions the marks inscribed on
the Pilgrim by Angels (or Illumined Ones) at each fresh stage of
his Ascent ; Rutherford also constantly in his Spiritual Letters
alludes to the "infallible symptoms" or "marks of the elect of
God." Of. the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22.

2 Isa. xxxiii. 17, xxx. 21.

a Mai. iii. 16, 17 ; Dan. xii. 3 ; cf. Luke xxiv. 14, 15.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 221

His sense of scent l in this world is correct.

Whether fragrant or ill- smelling,

Instinctively he knows the right.2

In desert defiles,

'Mid lions, elephants, tigers, wolves,

Buffaloes or unicorns,

He knows when they conceive,

Whether there will be birth or not,

And if natural or abnormal.

Entering, or coming out from Worship,

Inhales the Incense and knows all.3

In his mouth

All turns to sweetness

Like Heaven's dew —

Beautiful, beautiful !

His mouth is clean,4

Never admits ill flavours.

What he partakes

Becomes sweet dew.

Should he proclaim a Spiritual Truth,

It is enough to fill the universe.5

Freedom it gives to chief of gods and demons —

A great freedom.6

If he follows this immortal Scripture,

1 Cf. Isa. xi. 3 and mg., "Quick of scent-understanding." See
p. 253, note 3.

2 Heb. v. 14, R. V. mg., "perfect" ; cf. perfect and complete,
lacking nothing.

3 See p. 161, note 2. 4 P. 201, note 1.
5 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25, iv. 17. 6 John viii. 32.

222 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

His body is most pure
Like crystal,1
As a spotless mirror,
Keflecting all things clearly.2
But he alone sees clearly,
Others do not see !
All true preachers of the Law
Follow its meaning —
Its eternal meaning,
Not diverging from it.
If we explain ordinary books
And how to rule the world,
How to produce, distribute,
We follow upright laws.
For they are GOD'S Law —
All of them true.
Such men's minds are holy,
What is beneficial they know by intuition.
One should imitate their secret,
To know all truths — the highest, lowest,
medium.

1 A remarkable passage in the primitive Liturgy of Malabar,
used by the St. Thomas Christians, says : " Make us worthy, by Thy
love, that in all pureness we may receive the Gift ; and that it
may not be unto us for judgment or vengeance, but for love and
piety and the remission of sins, and Resurrection from the dead,
and Eternal Life ; so that we may all be the fullest witnesses of
Thy Glory, and the habitation of a Holy Shrine, that after we have
been incorporated into the Body and Blood of Thy Christ with all
Thy Saints, we may shine with light, in His ever-glorious and
lofty revelation." Cf. Heb. ix. 11.
2 Cor. iii. 18.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 223

Hearing one verse

Suddenly one understands the Kighteousness

Immeasurable,
And nevermore forgets it !
What this man says
Is the Law of God Eternal.
The man following this Scripture
Dwells in a rare state
Which all creatures
Eejoice in, love and reverence !

CHAPTER XX
Honour the Worthy

Thou who hast received the Highest Power,
The Great Dread Judge (Ta Shih Chih),
Of all I have met
I reverence you the most,
And dare not you his followers despise.
Why?

Because you all follow the Way of Saints
And will become divine —
Serving GOD only,

And looking from afar on all beings
That they may also turn to GOD,
Worshipping and praising Him.
If there be any angry

224 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

And impure of heart,

Cursing, blaspheming, saying

" These are but ignorant students ! " 1

And weapons hurl

To harm and injure them.
When listening to them preach with tongues

of fiery flame,2
They all submit and follow,
Preaching all round also 3
The Law fearlessly.
The Saints they nevermore despise.
Is it strange ?

It is My Body which is thus honoured.4
After angering
And despising

For two hundred myriad years
And never meeting GOD,
Not hearing the Law,
Nor seeing any Preacher,
Dwelling a thousand years in hell,5
Suffering immensely
To expiate their sins,

Still — since they no more despise My saints-
After My death,

1 John ix. 30-35, xvi. 2, 3.

2 Acts ii. 3-18 ; cf. vii. 54-60, viii. I, ix. 1-3, xxvi. 10, 11-19,
1 Tim. i. 12, 13, R.V.

3 Cf. Eph. iii. 1-8 ; Phil. iv. 7, 8.

4 Matt. xxv. 34-45 ; cf. Eph. i. 22, 23, iii. 10, R.V.

5 Cf. 1 Pet. iii. 18-20.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 225

If men shall always read, recite,

Explain, make known,

Or copy this Scripture,

Their sins forgiven are.

When they die

And hear this Scripture,

All evil roots are cleared away

Because of the Spirit's magic power and grace

Adding Eternal Life !

Again, if to all men

One publishes this Scripture

And propagates it,

He shall receive Immeasurable Joy

And, gradually acquiring skill,

Shall quickly find the Way of GOD.

Therefore, those who practise this

After My Death

And hear such Doctrine without doubting,

They should with all their powers

Preach everywhere * this Scripture

About GOD, age after age.

Quickly will such find the Way of GOD.

1 Luke xxiv. 44-52 ; Acts v. 41, 42, viii. 1-4.

226 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

CHAPTER XXI

The Incarnate' 8 Spiritual Power l
[Pentecost]

Tongues of fire widely spread2

Throughout the world ;

In sacred Places,

From Preachers' chairs 3

Full million years

All creatures trembled,

And with them seraphs, night-goblins,

Kieutape, Asuras,

Kialoulos, Kinnalos, Moheulochias—

Manlike, but non-human — trembled too,4

At God's Almighty Power.5

Seeing throughout these suffering worlds,

Immeasurable and infinite,

In all holy Places,

In every Preacher's chair,

Illuminated Ones.

In the realm of transmigration

There is a Saviour

Named Sakyamuni6

1 This chapter speaks of God manifesting Himself sometimes as
the Messiah, sometimes as the Holy Spirit.
" Acts ii. 1-21, x. 44-48.

3 A lion's throne is a chair of authority.

4 P. 187, note 2. 5 Luke vii. 16, R.V., iv. 42, 43.

6 See p. 190, 'note 1. Here, however, ''Sakyamuni " seems from
the context to mean God manifested in the flesh.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 227

Who taught the Saints

The Scripture of the Highest School.

The Sacred Lotus-Scripture,

Teaching the Way of Saints

Which GOD approves.

Throughout the Universe 1

This tongue prevails,

Like that of one's own land.

In short,

All the Ways of the Goolike One,2

All the power of the Goolike One,

The Secret Treasures 3 of the Goolike,

All the deep things of the Gonlike —

Are in this Scripture

Proclaimed and manifested.4

Therefore, after My decease,5

With all your mind

Study this Scripture,

Explain and copy it ;

If you propagate and practise it

Among all nations ;

If you study it,

1 See p. 235, note 2, also p. 236, note 1.

2 Chinese Buddhists speak of Julai, the Tathaguta, as "God in
manifestation," here translated "the Godlike One." See also
p. 249.

3 Luke ix. 31. Cf. also similar terms in the Primitive Liturgies,
e.g., "This Mystery of Gladness." See p. 193, note 3; also p.
211, note 1.

4 Luke ix. 30, 31 ; 2 Pet. i. 16-18, R. V.

5 John xiv. 16-19,

228 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Explain, recite it,

If you preach and practise it—

Where'er this Gospel's found,

Be it in a garden,

Or in a sacred forest,

Beneath a sacred tree,

Or in a monastery,

'Mid white-robed choirs,

In temple halls,

Or in a valley,

E'en in a desert place,

Where'er it be

Build there a Shrine (pagoda) for worship.

Why?

Because such are sacred colleges

Where the Illumined

Received the highest Truth.

All Illumined ones thus

Preach the Law ;

All the Enlightened thus

Proclaim Eternal Life 1

To rejoice the hearts of men.

Now is made manifest

The Infinite power Divine,

The merit of the One —

Immeasurable, Unlimited,

Like space, limitless.

Those who follow this Scripture

1 See p. 147, note 2 ; 1 John i. 2.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 229

Have already seen Me,

And beheld the God of many Treasures,1

And the members of My Broken Body.2

They see Me, too, this day

Training many followers.

Those who follow this Scripture

Keceive Me and My Broken Body.

The Dead yet Living GOD OF ALL GRACE

And the Delivered all rejoice.

The present Saints,

The past and future Saints,

Are seen and reverenced,

And made glad.

Such men are in GOD'S way

Assuredly, without a doubt.

CHAPTEK XXII
Be One

Eising in His Throne

He exhorted, saying

You who are one-minded 3

In the spreading of this Law,

1 Of. Col. i. 19, ii. 10, bodily, lit. in a bodily form ; 1 Pet. v.
10 ; John i. 16. " This God is one who divides Himself and is the
Mystery in the Lotus Scripture " (Eitel). John i. 14 ; 1 Cor. xi.
24-26. See also p. 254.

3 Luke xxiv. 30-35 ; 1 Cor. xii. 27, 28. Cf. John xir. 9,
xiii. 20.

8 John xvii. 21-26.

230 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Extend it widely,
So that all creatures
Everywhere may hear it.1

There is great Mercy,

Without grudging,

And without fear.

I manifest GOD,

The greatest Benefactor

Of all living creatures.

Those who believe My words

Should constantly this Scripture preach .

In me they have abundance

Of instruction, and great joy.2
To be grateful

For all the grace of the Illumined,
E'en sacrificing their bodies.3
With deepest reverence should they overflow,4
With body prostrate, and with bowed head,
With folded palms to Goo-ward turned.5

1 Luke xxiv. 44-47.

2 John x. 10, Life ; viii. 12, Light ; xiv. 25, 26, xvi. 12-14,
Teaching; xv. 11, xvii. 13, Joy ; xiv. 27, Peace.

3 Rom. xii. 1 ; Eph. v. 1, 2 ; Rev. xii. 11 ; cf. "jeopardised " in
Judg. v. 18, R.V. ; 1 Chron. xi. 17-19.

4 "Adoration is no mere prostration of the body ; it is a pro
stration of the soul," said Canon Liddon.

5 So also the Creation tablet of Babylonia, as translated by
Professor Delitzsch : —

"Towards the God, thou shouldest be of pure heart,
That is dearest to the Deity. Prayers, supplications,
Prostrations of face, thou shouldest offer Him early
Every morning. Mercy becomes the fear of God ;
Sacrifice enhances life ; prayer absolves from sin."

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 231

All heard a Voice,

Like the command of GOD : —

"Let all obey."1

Hearing these words Divine,

All greatly rejoiced.

CHAPTER XXIII
The Physician

Now all men

Eejoiced to see Disciples

Gladly practising austerities

In the broad noon of spiritual virtue,

Growing thus in grace 2

With their whole mind seeking GOD,

That they might better learn

The virtue of this Scripture,

Yet this equals not the service of one's life.3

This sure growth in grace

Is called " the true Way "

Of worshipping the Goolike One.

'Tis the highest offering, —

And in the Prayer of Intense Adoration in the Divine Liturgy of
St. Mark which was used daily at Alexandria in the fourth century,
and has its place in all Oriental Liturgies : " We have bowed the
neck of our souls and bodies signifying the outward appearance of
service."

1 Matt. xvii. 5 ; Heb. i. 6. 2 1 Pet. iii. 18.

3 Rom. xii. 1 ; 1 Cor. xv. 58.

232 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Amongst all gift*

Most honourable, and highest.

This, therefore, is the Way to reverence

All the GoDlike

Who diligently grow in grace,

Yielding their precious lives.

Then upon the seashore

In honour they raise a funeral pyre —

Ignite it ; after being burned,

Collect the sacred Ashes

In eighty-four thousand urns l

To erect eighty-four thousand Shrines (pagodas)2

(stupas),

High as the Heavens,
With glorious towers,
With banners flying,
And precious bells.
Thus they return to Heaven with their

disciples,

Happy and wise, having " attained perfection." s
Filled with all precious things of the universe,
They make offering unto GOD,

1 See p. 247.

2 The Pagoda is essentially a sepulchral monument ; the Chinese
and Japanese counterpart of the Indian stupa. Cf. Rev. vi. 9-11.

8 Another term derived from the ancient Mysteries. See p. 153,
note 2 ; p. 162, note 5 ; p. 251, note, 1. Cf. Phil. iii. 12-15, mg.
R.V., "full grown," where it is used with other Mystery-terms,
"Press on" and "Lay hold."

Note also that " Perfection " is a key- word in the Epistle to the
Hebrews ii. 10, v. 9, vi. 1 (mg. "full grown") with those other

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 233

To the Great Saints,

To the Doctors of the Buddhist Law,

And to the devout (Arhats) of every school,

But the virtue offered equals not

That of following, practising

One four-lined verse l of this Pure Doctrine,

For the reward will be far greater,

With the King in Glory dwelling.

Of all streams and rivers,

Of all waters,

The sea is greatest,

As GOD is chief in the spirit-world.

So is this Scripture chief

Among all Scriptures.

It can save all living creatures,

It can lead all living creatures,

To be rid of every trouble.

This Scripture can immensely benefit

All living creatures,

Fulfilling their desires —

As a place of coolness

Quenching all kinds of thirst,

It resembles the frozen finding fire,

Mystery-terms "Enlightened," "Tasted," "Made Partakers."
Again, Heb. vii, 19, where it is used in connection with the Mystery-
terms " A Better Hope " and " Draw nigh " (vv. 19, 25) ; also vii.
28, "A Son perfected for evermore"; Heb. ix. 11, x. 1, 14, and
cf. vv. 32, 33, "Enlightened, becoming partakers" — "perfected
for ever" ; also xii. 2, R.V., "Jesus the Author and Perfecter of
our Faith."

1 See pp. 131, 241, note.

234 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

The naked finding clothes,

Or merchants finding trade ;

Like babes who find the mother s breast,

A man who at a ferry finds a boat,

Or sick ones finding health,

Or blind eyes finding light,

Like beggars finding wealth,

As rebels find a chief,

As bridegroom finds his bride,

As light from which the darkness flees —

So is this Lotus Scripture,

Able to lead all creatures

Out of all troubles,

All sickness, every pain,

And rid them of all chains of life, or death.

If one hears the Living Scripture

If one copies it,

Or makes others copy it,

The reward

Is Divine wisdom

Whose value

Is limitless,

For never shall any

As suffering women l be re-born.

1 Gal. iii. 28. Describing the terrific tortures to which the
martyrs were subjected, Eusebius, writing from Csesarea, dr. A.D.
303-313, says: "The females also, no less than the men, were
strengthened by the Doctrine of the Divine Word, so that some
endured the same trials as the men and bore away the same prizes
of excellence."

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 235

Thinking o'er this Scripture,

And revealing it to others,

The reward is boundless, inexhaustible !

Fire cannot burn it,

Nor water wash away

Your Blessings.

A thousand Illumiued Ones say

That they can ne'er exhausted be

Already you can rush through Devils' ranks

Destroying armies of Death l

And remaining enemies

Annihilating them all.

After My Death and Deliverance,

Five hundred years later,2

'Twill be widely spread3

1 When arraigned before the Emperor Trajan at Rome, St.
Ignatius of Antioch said : " I go my way to Him ; He is the Bread
of Immortality, and the Draught of Eternal Life, and I am wholly
His — therefore I despise thy tortures and reject the honours. Let
loose thy beasts that I may become pure bread." When Trajan
heard these things he was greatly astonished (cf. p. 211, note 1).
In the same spirit the Chinese Pilgrim Hiouen Tsang (who in the
seventh century travelled to India " to recover the Law which was
to be a Guide to all men and the means of their salvation ") said :
" I know that the King in spite of his power has no power over
my mind and my will " ; and again, " Robbers are men, and at
present, when I am going to adore the Shadow of Buddha, even
though the roads were full of wild beasts I should walk on without
fear."— Max Muller, Chips, vol. i. pp. 265, 268.

2 Note the reference to the prophesy of p. 181.

3 The Lotus Scripture and the Doctrine of the Three Precious
Ones was translated into Chinese first by Dharmaraksha, A.D. 266-
313 or 317, when he died seventy-seven years old. It came to N.
Korea A.D. 372, to S. Korea 384, and to Japan A.D. 552.

236 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Throughout strange lands.1

It cannot be destroyed

By devils,2 or their followers,

Dragons or night ogres,

Or any monstrous demons.

'Tis worthy to be preserved

Amongst a King's treasures.

You should use your magic powers

To preserve this Scripture.

] This is historically true only of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ;
Rev. xiv. 6. Clement of Rome, the contemporary of St. Paul, said
that the Apostle "travelled to the furthest limits of the West" ;
and in A.D. 193 Tertullian in N. Africa wrote, "In whom else
have all nations believed, but in Christ? Parthians, Modes,
Elamites, all the coasts of Spain, the various nations of Gaul and
the parts inaccessible to the Romans " (i.e. the highlands of Britain
behind Hadrian's Great Wall) " are now accessible to Christ." The
martyrdoms at Lyons in Gaul took place in A.D. 177 ; those at
Carthage in Africa 202 ; St. Albans in Britain 286, where there
were numerous others (286-292) between Amiens and Marseilles.
Again, 303-313, "an innumerable multitude of martyrs from Libya
and through all Egypt, Syria, round as far as the region of Illy-
ricum," says Eusebius. Arnobius in the third century counted the
Seres or Chinese amongst the nations who had received the Gospel.
St. Jerome (d. 420), speaking of the Divine Word, the Son of God,
being everywhere present in His fulness in all places, he adds, "with
Thomas in India, with Peter at Rome, with Paul in Illyrica." Refer
also to p. 227, note 1 : ' ' Throughout the Universe this tongue pre
vails," etc. When the Japanese Emperor received the Image of
Shakya Butsu and the Inner Doctrine of the Greater Way in 552,
the Nihongi chronicler records that he said, "The countenance of
this Buddha is of a severe dignity such as we have never at all seen
before, ought it to be worshipped or not ?," and the reply was, " All
the Western frontier lands without exception do it worship : Shall
Akitsu Yamato alone refuse to do so ? " — Aston's Nihongi. ii. pp.
05, 66.
2 Rom. viii. 31, especially Rev. xii. 3-17.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 237

Why?

Because 'tis healing for all nations,1
The sick man's Medicine.
If one hear this Scripture,
His sickness ends.
The patient grows not old, nor dies.
All creatures are delivered from
The sea of trouble, old age, sickness — even
death.

CHAPTER XXIV

Wonderful News
[Transfiguration ?]

The flesh and hair shine,

E'en the forehead shines

And whitened hairs shed light.2

It is because all virtue

Was planted long ago.

The body is immovable,

Having entered into ecstasy.

Extraordinary virtue 3 brightly burns

And shines with glory,

The form is quite complete,

Strong like the Creator 4

All filial,

1 Rev. xxii. 1, 2.

2 Matt. xvii. 2-5 ; Mark ix. 3 ; Luke ix. 29.

3 Luke v. 15, 17, 26, ix. 19 ; Matt. ix. 33.

4 Rev. i. 14-16 ; Dan. vii. 9 ; 2 Pet. i. 16-18, R. V.

238 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Worships no Shamans,

Seeing evil, is grieved at heart,

Although unmoved by passion,

Peaceful, with few troubles,

Able to endure.1

With eighty-four thousand priests2

Visited all the hells,3

Lived 'mid hungry ghosts and animals,4

Endured all kinds of difficulty.

Thus enabled all to save,

Even in royal palaces.

Became a woman

That she might preach this Scripture,

To plant the Seed of Goodness

And manifest itself in all

Human existence.

Then once again returned

To her first state of soul in Goo,5

Eejoicing in the joy this Scripture gives.

1 Heb. xi. 27 ; Jas. i. 12, v. 11, R.V.

2 See p. 247.

3 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19.

4 Mark i. 13, R.V. The Japanese Buddhists of the Shinshu
Hongwangi, or sect of the True Original Vow, say, " that Amida is
God, but to save men He suffered and died, and went through the
Forty-eight Hells for them."

5 John viii. 23, xiii. 1-3, xvi. 27, 28, xvii. 8.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 239

CHAPTER XXV
Kwanyin — [The Universal Hearer of Prayer'} l

[See General Introduction, vi. p. 16, for fuller translation
than this Essence.]

The Incomprehensible (Holy Spirit),
She whom no evil spirit's eyes can see-
Much less harm —
Baffles them all,
Granting deliverance.
The wondrous power of GOD
Is awe-inspiring, like this : —
Should a woman desire a son,
And reverently worship
Holy Kwanyin,2
She will obtain a blessing —
An intelligent son.

1 Like the Holy Spirit who is the Hearer of Prayer ; cf. Rom.
viii. ; 1 Kings viii. 27-52 ; Ps. cvii. ; Faber's Hymn, "When the
weary, seeking rest," etc.

2 Kwanyin (the Indian " Avalo-kitesvara," Japanese " Kwa-
non") is "the Listening Goddess" whom prayer will instantly
cause to appear any where by land or sea. She has appeared in thirty-
three bodies or forms (classes of society), wishing to succour each
class of human beings as best suited to his special spiritual needs.
"Her Mercy is higher than the mountains, deeper than the torrent-
riven valleys." Cf. Mark xvi. 16, "After this He appeared unto
them in another form " ; also Ex. ii. 23, 24, iii. 7 ; Ps. xxxii. 13 ;
Deut. xxxiii. 27, "the God of old time" (Variorum), and espe
cially Luke i. 48 ; John ix. 34, 35.

240 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Should she desire a daughter,
She brings forth a virtuous one,
A beauteous daughter,
Eooted deep in virtue,
By all respected,
Joy without alloy,
Immeasurable, — infinite
Are these blessings.
In three and thirty forms
Herself, she manifested,
Vowed a great vow, deep like the sea,
A vow of holiness. Trusting in her power
A fiery furnace becomes a cooling lake of water,1
Waves cannot drown ;
Through her kindliness of heart
Shivered is sword of executioner.
Accursed poisonous herbs 2
May life endanger, but —
Think upon the Lotus Law
And you will then be healed.
'Mid thunder-clouds and lightning,
Hailstones and floods of rain,
Look up to Kwanyin.
These all shall vanish.
Kwanyin's wondrous knowledge
Can save a world of sorrow.3
'Tis mercy upon mercy —
Purest Light !
1 Of. ante, p. 177, note 4. 2 Mark xvi. 17, 18. 3 Of. Acts v. 18-20.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 241

Wisdom's Sun dispels the darkness,

Subdues calamities of wind and fire ;

Shines brightly o'er the world ;

Is full of goodness,

Beams kindly on all creatures.

Blessings like the sea abound,

Therefore revere her.

Heaven's own dew and rain will fall,

Extinguishing flames of trouble,

And exorcising feelings of revenge.

In your hearts harbour no doubt,

But trust in holy Kwanyin,

In all trouble, danger, even death —

Then you have One on whom to lean !

CHAPTEE XXVI
Toloni (calling Demons to aid ly Magic)

If one doth follow

This Lotus Gospel,

Even one four-lined verse,1

Eead, recite, explain it,

Preach and practise it —

His reward is very great.

An — ur Man — ur, etc. (spells),

If one destroys

1 Pp. 131, 233.
16

242 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Such Spiritual Guides,

It will be like destroying

The Illuminated.

The arch -Prince Pisamen,1

Who protects the world,

Pities all creatures,

And He will protect these Spiritual Guides.

Whoever follows this Scripture,

For one hundred yeusheun 2

No evil shall befall him.

The Angels who rule the nations 3

Will then have female Locha,

One called " Lan Po,"

The second " Pe Kanko,"

The third " Crooked Teeth,"

The fourth " Flower Teeth,"

The fifth " Black Teeth,"

The sixth " Hairy,"

The seventh " Insatiable,"

The eighth " Jewel Bearer,"

The ninth " Hao Ti,"

The tenth " Sucker of all vitals " —

These ten female Lochas,

With demons and their mothers

And their children —

All their progeny, —

1 Pisamen — Vaisramana, King of Yakcha, a Beelzebub converted
by Sakyamuiri, who now protects the Law.

2 One yeusheun — 5^ English miles.

3 Of. Dan. x. 13, 20, 21, xii. 1.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 243

Gathered in GOD'S Presence,

With one voice they thus addressed Him :

" World-honoured One !

We, too, desire to guard

Those who study and follow

The Lotus Scripture,

To deliver them from all

Feebleness and trouble.

Should they seek deceitfully

To criticise the Spiritual Guides,

Making things hard for them —

Or have caused them fever,

Whether for one day or two,

Three days or four, e'en seven days

They suffer constant fever —

May this fall upon our heads

Eather than on the Spiritual Guides.

If, disobeying us,

They should annoy the Guides,

Then let their head be split in seven,

Like the branches of the banyan tree.

Their crime is great as parricide,

Boiled should they be in oil.

Priest-detractors resemble those

Who cheat with weights and measures,

And should likewise be severely punished."

244 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

CHAPTER XXVII
Kwanyin's Royal Human Parents

A pure Princess
With two folded palms
Thus addressed her Mother-queen,
" I pitying niy father
Show these signs-
Above the body there is water,1
Below the body there is fire.
Again, below there conies forth water
And above conies forth fire.
For my father's weal,
We worshipped GOD,
Left home to practise the Good Law.
Mother, permit me
To become a nun (Shaman).
The Illumined are not easily met,
I desire to learn and follow them.
Truly, beloved parents,
The Illumined Ones are rarely met
Like the Yeu-hing-po-lo-hwa.2
We are like one-eyed turtles
Seeking refuge in a floating wood.
We change our evil hearts

1 Matt. iii. 11 ; John iii. 5.

2 This is a fig tree that flowers only once in three thousand years.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 245

In order peace to find

In the Faith of the Illumined

And see the One world -honoured GOD.

The learned in the fundamentals

Of civilisation, say

They lead to GOD,

And to the discovery

Of highest Wisdom.

Pitying the wrong doctrines of the world,

We guide to the True Knowledge.

The Godlike Way

Can fully be attained,

Though beyond thought

Its merits are,

Giving instruction to its learners,

Bestowing rest and speedy goodness.

From this day forth we

Will not follow our own wills,

Neither pursue wild ways,

Nor pride, nor anger cherish,

Filled with all seeds of sins,

But straight will go unto the root of Good,

And win what passes all imagining,

The greatest harvest ! "

246 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

CHAPTER XXVIII
Command to Saint Universal Good (Pu Hien)

GOD said to Pu Hien —

" If good men and virtuous women

Would use the four means of grace

After the GoDlike One's Decease,

They should seek the Living Scripture—

1. Win all the Illumined to their side.

2. Seek the root of all Goodness —

3. Attend the gatherings of the Upright — T

4. Vow to save all living beings.
You good men, virtuous women,

If you follow these four means of grace
After the GoDlike One's Decease,
Then you certainly will find this Scripture."
Then Pu Hien
Answered GOD, saying —
"World-honoured One,
Five hundred years hence,
Amidst this evil world

There will be those who follow this Scripture —
Upholding such men,
I shall rid them of perplexities
And bid them rest in peace, —
Nor let those who seek their own
And those who trouble men
1 Cf. Heb. x. 24, 25, xii. 14, 15, xiii. 2-7, 15-17.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 247

Succeed.

If such ones forget the Verses

Of the Living Scripture,

I will teach them l

To read, recite it,

And receive its full benefits.

No evil men

Can injure them,

And they shall not

By women be allured.

I shall Myself

Protect these men."

Be the Living Scripture 2

Practised by the uncivilised Nations3

And followed by them —

They should have this thought,

All is Pu Hien's

Wondrous spiritual power,4

By all the Goolike ones ordained,

With hands upon their heads,5

Eighty -four thousand 6 heavenly Angels,

With all kinds of music — 7

Come forth to meet them —

1 " Bring all things to your remembrance," John xiv. 26, xvi.
13-15.

2 2 Cor. iii. 2, 3. 3 Acts xxi. 19, xxii. 21.
4 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10 ; Eph. vi. 10, mg. R.V.

8 Acts vi. 6, xiii. 3 ; 2 Tim. i. 6. The Nestorian Christian
missionaries had "the Ordination of the Five Talents."

6 See "84,000," p. 106. Cf. the " 144,000 " of Rev. vii. 4, 9.

7 Luke xv. 7, 25.

248 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Such ones

Wear sevenfold crowns.1

When these die

Thousands of Illumined ones 2 receive him,

He has no fear

Of sinking to an evil place.3

World-honoured One —

I shall with powers miraculous

Uphold this Scripture

Among the Nations

After My Death,

And make it widely known,

So that it shall never cease to lead

Multitudes of creatures

To dwell in peace, and joy, and blessing.

If any study it

And its true meaning —

Practise and copy

This Living Scripture —

You should know that this One

Has seen GOD (Sakyamuni),4

As though he heard from His own lips

This Scripture.

You should know that this man

Respects GOD (Sakyamuni),

You should know that this one

1 2 Tim. iv. 8.

2 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. * Luke xvi. 22.

4 See p. 189, note 4 ; p. 226, note 6.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 249

Is praised by GOD as " faithful." l

You should know that

He is GOD'S (Sakyamuni) fore-ordained Man !

You should recognise that this Man is

Clothed with

GOD'S Mantle.2

Such men covet not this world —

Nor follow its erroneous teachings ;

In all their writings

One straight course pursue

And upright aim,3

Have powers of goodness,

Possessing few desires, are satisfied.4

Such men shall soon

Be asked by others to instruct.

They covet not

Fine clothes, nor ease,5

Nor dainties of the Feast.

What they desire is no vain show,

Nor do they seek in this life to gain reward.

To such rewards be ever blind,

1 "Faithful," Matt. xxv. 21-23. It is a term used in the "Book
of the Dead," e.g. "Faithful to the Great God ;— true of voice like
Osiris," i.e. "perfectly in tune," as the reason for Justification in
the great "Judgment of Account of Words " in the Vermilion Hall
(Maspero). See p. 256, note 4.

2 1 Kings xix. 19. Cf. Gal. iii. 27, 28, R.V., "As many of you
were baptized into Christ did put on Christ." See ante, p. 185,
note 2.

3 Phil. iii. 13 ; 2 Cor. vi. 10.

4 Phil. iv. 8, R.V., "learned the secret" ; lit. been initiated.

5 Matt. iii. 4.

250 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

If you honour praise-seekers —
Honour them in this world.
But if, again, you see a follower
Of this Scripture,
Criticising its shortcomings,1
Imaginary or real,
That man in this life
Has got the leprosy !

EPILOGUE

GOOD WILL TO MEN
The Gospel of Holy Pu Hien ( Universal Good)

[The Text of the Chinese Essence is taken from selected
passages in Pu Hien Hing Fa King's Nanjio's Catalogue, No.
394, Trans.]

Three months hence

I shall pass away.

Though troubles have not ceased,

And character be still imperfect,

Yet shall I of evil roots be rid,

And end my sin.

Not in ecstasy,2

1 Acts xix. 8, 9.

2 This is a mark or characteristic of a saint. When a holy
man, such as a Buddhist Abbot, is about to die, he is raised
into a sitting posture, his disciples gathered round, and with a
loud voice, gathering up all his failing strength, the dying saint

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 251

But by chanting this Scripture
With inind bent on practising it.
And all my thoughts collected
Within the Great Religion,
I feel lost in infinite space ;
Hearing infinite sounds,
Surrounded with infinite forms,
All in a divine chorus
Praising the Great Religion,
The One True Way,
Praising the Great Gospel,
Reciting the Great Gospel,
Thinking of the Great Gospel,
Studying the Great Gospel fruits ;
Those reverently worshipping,
And " laying hold " l of it,
Behold all men

chants aloud this Lotus Sutra or some poetry which he himself
composed. It will be remembered that our Lord when upon the
Cross refused the stupefying draught, the anodyne offered to Him
by a kindly soldier who heard His cry (Mark xv. 23 ; Matt, xxvii.
34). His loud expiring cry convinced the Centurion, who was
watching His dying agonies, that He was a Son of God, because
" He so gave up the ghost " (Mark xv. 34-39). A Buddhist priest
first called my attention to the fact that this was the death of a
Bodhisattva. He had been profoundly impressed by that cry,
which was of Victory over Death— that of a Conqueror who had
destroyed the sting of Death, brought Immortality to light, and
opened the Gates of the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.

1 ' ' Lay hold " — ' ' Hold fast " (expressions much used in the Epistle
to the Hebrews and the Revelation) are terms derived straight from
the Mystery-teachings of the Ancient Wisdom. See ante, p. 151,
note 2 ; p. 161, note 2 ; p. 232, note 3 ; also p. 209, note 1.

252 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

As GOD sees them,

And all living creatures

As parents view their children.

Thinking of the Great Eeligion,

Night and day unceasingly,

I heard Pu Hien preaching

On its depth of meaning

So as to "hold it fast"1 without forget-

fulness.2

With upright heart and upright aim,
Gradually one comes to see,
By means of this Great Teaching,3
The Great Instructor (Kwanyin, Holy

Spirit ?).

And through this Great Instructor's power
To see all the Illumined,
Waking or sleeping,
Never leave their side,4
And e'en in dreams 5 should see
The seven Illumined ancient patriarchs (?).6
When dark crimes
And all sins

1 See note 1 on p. 251.

2 Heb. xii. 5 ; 2 Pet. i. 9 ; Gal. iv. 3, 9, R.V.

3 Mark i. 27, R.V., " What is this? A New Teaching ! with
authority He eommarideth even the unclean spirits and they obey
Him."

4 See pp. 155, 206, note 2 ; 2 Kings vi. 14-16 ; Josh. v. 13-
15, etc.

5 Job xxxiii. 15. See p. 203, note 4.

0 Cf. the Seven Rishis of the Veda, also Seven Spirits before
God's throne, Rev. i.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 253

Were revealed before the World-honoured

Ones —

Confession was made,
Words gradually were heard
Above those of this world — l
Gradually the eye sees things
Beyond this world : 2
By degrees the nose smells 3
Incense not of earth —
Body and soul are filled with joy—
Because sin is no more.4
In former lives we,
By means of the Great School,
Acquired this life's
Pure, upright knowledge.
These Scriptures of the New School
Are the treasures of all the Illumined,
Are the eyes of the Illumined
In all three Realms of the Universe,
Past, Present, and to come,
Appearing as Incarnate Ones
As the GoDlike Ones, —
Following these Scriptures,

1 Isa. xxx. 20, 21, note clairvoyance and clairaudience, 2 Cor.
xii. 1-3.

2 Of. 2 Cor. iv. 16-18 ; Heb. xi. 27. "Grant ine then insight
into Thy Mysteries " was the Psalmist's prayer, Ps. Ixxiii. 17
(Wellhausen's rendering).

3 Isa. xi. 2, 3, lit. "quick of scent," i.e. understanding, mg.
Cf. Heb. v. 11-14 ; 1 Tim. iv. 6, 7 ; 1 John v. 1-3. See p. 220.

4 Heb. ix. 24-26 R.V., 28.

254 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Men become divine,

And do the works of Goo.1

Follow the Great School,

Let not its spiritual seed fail ;

Follow the Great School

With all its wondrous principles.

Then you shall see all the Illumined

And the sunshine of their face 2

Keflected in their followers' hearts,

Behold the PRESENCE EEAL,3

Clearly, distinctly !

Study GOD,

Study His Laws,

Study the students of these Laws,

Their discipline, their charity,

Their Heaven.

Beauty blinds your eyes,4

Enslaves you to its pleasure.

By rightly thinking of this Great School,

Never forgetting it

To all eternity,

You will not into evil fall.

Whoever has this mind

Possesses the right mind.

1 John vii. 31, ix. 32, xiv. 12, xv. 24 ; Acts xxvi. 16-18.

2 "The Hidden Faces which guard the Road" ; cf. Ps. xxxiv. 5,
"They looked unto Him, and their faces were made radiant,"
R.V.

3 See chap. xxi. p. 95 ; John xiii. 35, xvii. 21-23 ; cf.
1 John i. 2, "The Life was manifested."

4 Prov. xxxi. 30.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 255

Should you deviate

You become a pervert,

But the Church of the GOD OF ALL GRACE

endures ever,1
Can preach the great Law
And shower its life-giving rain
To set aright the ignorant.2
All those who listen
Constantly to bad words
Produce all kinds of strange ideas
By inquiring in the wrong way.3
Such deserve to sink into the Way of the

wicked,4

Where they see nothing but evil,
Where this Scripture ne'er is heard.
The Scripture Expansions (Fang Teng) 5
Have Love and Mercy for their theme.
The words which they repeat

1 See chap. xxi. p. 95.

2 John xii. 8, xvii. 11 ; 1 Tim iii. 15.

3 1 Tim. vi. 3-5, R.V. ; 2 Pet. ii. 1, 2 ; 2 Tim. ii. 15-18,
R.V.

4 Iranseus in the second century wrote: "There are those who
have heard Polycarp tell how John, the disciple of the Lord, when
he went to take a bath at Ephesns, saw Cerinthus (the famous
heretical teacher) within, and rushed away from the room without
bathing, with the words ' Let us flee lest the room should fall in,
for Cerinthus the enemy of the Truth is within.'" Cited by
Eusebius.

5 These Fang Teng Scriptures (Vaipulya) arc amplified and
diffused editions first introduced into China A.D. 266 (Eitel) ; first
translated into Chinese by Dharmaraksha (Nanjio's Catalogue p
391).

256 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Are of the world of the Illumined,
The principles of the Great School —
Are True Eealities beneath all forms.

All the Illumined and the Goolike
Ones

Are your Loving Father's.1

All evil thoughts come from the tongue,2

Stopping Truth's progress,

From the tongue,

Therefore, because of evil language,

Man falleth into hell.

It also uses loving speech

Promoting good feeling,

In the midst of ill,

Its object never fails.
Sakyanauni 3

Who is the chief God Vairochana,4
Who pervades all space,
Where He dwells is called
The Calm, Eternal Light.
An endless chain,
A boundless ocean,
Purposeful seeming purposeless,

1 Of. 2 Cor. iv. 14, 15, R.V.

2 The connection with St. James' Epistle is clear. He was the
brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. See iii. 2-12.

3 See ante, p. 193, note 3. Sakyamuni seems tojbe used to repre
sent the human and the divine.

4 Vairochana (Sanscrit Jap. Dainichi) is the Everywhere Pre
sent Sun. The Dainichi Scripture or "Great Sun classic" was
brought to China at a very early date.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 257

Baffling thought.

What is sin ?

What happiness ?

The true soul is free,

Unmoved by rewards or punishments.

The great repentance,

The great and glorious at-one-ment (?),1

The sinless atonement (?),

This transcends all human thought.
These Scripture Expansions (Vaipulya)
Are the eyes of all the Illumined.
They, on this account,

Possess five eyes (the five Wisdom Command
ments ?),

Have three forms (Trinity ?),2
From the Expansions arise
Great spiritual evidence —
The evidence of Everlasting Life.
In this Eternal sea
Producing three Orders (Divinity, Laws and

the Teachers of these ?)
Divinely pure —
These three Orders 3

1 Ante, p. 249, note 1, ' ' attunement. " The sense in which the
word is used by Shakespeare and John Bunyan

"Then Heaven tries the earth

If it be in tune " ;

and again, "God always begins with the bass when He means to
set the soul in tune for Himself— for the bass is the keynote of all
music." — Pilgrim's Progress.

2 Or body, soul, and spirit. 3 Matt, xxviii. 19.

258 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Afford realms of Joy for God and men.

Reverence the Highest.

Only chant the Great School (Mahayana),

Study the chief righteousness,

And diligently cultivate mercy.

If you desire always to dwell

In the Eternal City,

In joy and peace,

Immeasurable goodness

From this truth flows.

All waves of difficulty

Arise from false ideas.

If you desire repentance,

Sit down, consider your true state ;

Then all your sins shall vanish

As hoar-frost melts before the Rising Sun.
If any read, recite, and propagate
The Expansions,
And night and day reverence
The Illumined Saints,
Those who pursue this Law
Obey GOD'S Laws
And celebrate their uses,
Reciting the Scriptures of the Great School,
They meditate upon the highest righteous
ness-
Most deep, eternal Law.
In the time it takes to snap one's lingers,
One is released from sins of millions ages.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 259

These are called " Perfect Disciples,"

Who need no transmigration to obtain perfect
Karma.

Naturally they become perfect.

The World-honoured Ones

Always abide in the world.1

On account of our evil habits,

Though we believe the Expansions,

We cannot see GOD to-day.

If, following the Expansions,

One be willing life to lose,

Though one should sink into Purgatory

And suffer countless torments —

If he curses not
The piety of Saints
But turns to GOD,
And to the Law,

And to the Teachers of GOD'S Laws,
Whether at home or in a monastery,
They need no priests,
Nor any teachers,
Nor speak of Karma
To obtain the Scriptural Salvation2
Of the Great School.
For half the work is done already,
With every thought
Quickly repenting of their sins
Once and for ever.
1 Matt, xxviii. 20. 2 Heb. vii. 25.

260 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

Those who do ill themselves

And declare GOD'S Law is ill,

And write that all such evils

As stealing and licentiousness

Are not shameful —

Nor any sins,1

Blaspheming the Scriptures of Salvation,

And abounding in all ill —

All great ill-doers

Will have their recompense with wicked souls

In fearful storms,

And must fall into lowest hell.

Those who repent and pray,

If only they are earnest in their heart —

Do not blaspheme the Precious Order
Three ; 2

Nor hinder men becoming Teachers of
Divine Law,

Commit no ill against Lay Teachers,

But contribute to and respect

The followers of the Great School.

You must also reverence

And be filial to your parents,

Respect your teachers and your elders ;

1 See also p. 193, note 3 ; p. 213 ; p. 217, note 1 ; p. 235, note 2 ;
p. 256, note 3.

2 The Three Precious Ones are— 1, God ; 2, God's Laws through
out the Universe ; 3, those who teach and apply them for the good
of all men, i.e. the Priesthood. Or God in Three Persons (Amida,
Dai Seishi, Kwannon as in Japan. In China, Omito Fu, Ta Shih
Chili, and Kwanyin), p. 12.

THE LOTUS ESSENCE 261

With upright Law the nation rule,

With all your might

Avoid destroying the people ; L

Firmly believe in Eternal recompense

And that whole-heartedly.

Know too that GOD is not dead,

Therefore — be not led astray !

1 "Put an end to war" occurs in the Primitive Liturgy of St.
James, the Lord's brother. "Deliver, O Lord, this city and every
city and country from . . . sword, civil war . . . Quiet the
schisms of the Churches, quench the boasting of the nations ... by
the power of the Holy Spirit, etc., that of St. Basil the Great."

THE GEEAT PHYSICIAN'S TWELVE
DESIEES (VOWS)

NOTE

THE first Buddhist temple in or around Nara in
Japan was built by Koreans, at the invitation of
the Japanese rulers in the sixth century of the
Christian era.

One of the most remarkable sights I have seen
in Japan is a temple at Horiyuji, near Nara, to the
Great Physician (Yakushi they call him). It is
filled with innumerable votive offerings, to show
that the sick were healed by prayers to him. The
zeal of modern Christian scientists is far more than
eclipsed by this wonderful record of fifteen centuries
there.

By bringing the highest ideals of the East and
the West together for comparison, it is hoped that
special attention should be called to this rather
than to the failings and low practices of either
East or West.

264 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

The Scripture which describes this Great
Physician has one very striking passage on his
twelve Vows or Purpose in coming to the world.
These twelve Vows I translate below :—

1. I come from Heaven with the highest wisdom
to shine on infinite innumerable worlds accompanied
by thirty-two great angels, different forms of
Kwanyin (see p. 16), and glorious legions, it will
be for the purpose of delivering all beings, to be
godlike like myself.

2. I come with my body within and without
pure as crystal, without a flaw, with great light and
profound virtue living in peace with a glory sur
passing that of sun and moon, it will be to enlighten
all who are living in darkness.

3. I come again with wisdom bringing infinite
knowledge and goodness so that no living creature
may suffer from any want but have all they need.

4. I come in order that those who are in evil
ways may find peace in the way of wisdom, and in
order that those who only know the old Buddhism,
may know the new Buddhism.

5. I come in order that the multitudes who
study religion may discover the perfect way, and
if they have erred on hearing my name may be
delivered from hell, and also attain to holiness.

6. I come so that all beings who are cripples,
ugly and foolish, blind, deaf and dumb, hunchback,
leprous and mad, and all sorts of suffering, on

PHYSICIAN'S TWELVE VOWS 265

hearing my name may be healed of all their
diseases.

7. I come so that the incurables, the homeless,
those without doctors or medicine, without friends
or relatives, the poor and the sorrowful, on hearing
my name shall be delivered from all their troubles
and live in peace of mind and body, have their
families flourish in abundance and attain the
highest wisdom.

8. I come so that women driven by all sorts of
trials to hate their lives, and no longer desire to be
women, on hearing my name may be changed to
men, and attain the highest wisdom.

9. I come so that those who are in the bonds of
evil spirits, or of heresies fallen into all sorts of
evil, on hearing my name may be led to right
knowledge, and gradually practise goodness and
attain to the highest wisdom.

10. I come so that those who have fallen to
the clutches of the law, are bound and beaten
and imprisoned, or are about to be executed or
have endless calamities, insults, sorrows burning
both body and soul, on hearing my name may
secure my grace and power, and be delivered from
all their sorrows.

11. I come so that those driven by hunger and
thirst to do wrong, on hearing my name shall be
fed and satisfied with wisdom and find perfect rest.

12. I come so that all the poor and naked, and

266 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

those suffering from heat and cold, and divers flies
and secret creepers night and day, on hearing my
name may turn to practise religion, according to
their bent, will receive the garments of highest
wisdom, glorious treasures and best music, and be
fully satisfied with all.

VII

THE CREED OF HALF ASIA

TO SIN KING

THIS Creed deserves to rank among the sublimest
literary productions of the human mind, from Job
to Kant, together with those of the best thinkers
of India and China.

Many devout people of the Confucian and Taoist
schools, as well as Buddhists, recite it daily just as
Christians sing a choice hymn.

It states the solid fundamental principles of
religion which commend themselves, not merely to
the majority of Asiatics, but also to the majority
of men universally. It includes the need of Divine
Power to save men, the great At-One-ment, Divine
Inspiration, Divinest Miracles, past, present and to
come, and Immortality.

When this best Eastern thought is united to the
best Western thought, whatever may be deficient in
definition in either singly, may meet the approval of
that conscience which God has given to mankind
collectively.

267

268 NEW TESTAMENT BUDDHISM

The Creed is as follows : —

Hail self-existent Illuminator, Who in exercising
deepest Wisdom seest the unreality of all that is
reached by the five senses, and canst save from
all troubles and dangers.

O Sariputra (the Divine Seed ?), the Manifested
is not different from the Eternal, and the Eternal
is not different from the Manifested. Thought and
Action are also thus mutually related.

The Divine Seed (?) is the Eternal in all laws of
the Universe. He was never born, nor will ever
die. (See Living Seed, p. 167.)

He is neither clean nor unclean, is neither
added to nor subtracted from. He is without
sorrow, and will not perish. He is without ac
quired Wisdom, because he has received none.

The Illuminators depending on this Eternal
Wisdom are without anxiety. Having no anxiety,
they have no fear and are far from impossible
dreams and thoughts. They are eventually
immortals.

All the Illumined past, present, and to come,
depending on this Divine Wisdom, obtain the
Highest Wisdom.

Therefore know that this Divine Wisdom is a
great Divine Magic, a great brilliant magic, the
greatest magic, and a magic without a peer.

It can deliver you from all kinds of troubles.
This is a real truth without any falsehood. There-

HALF ASIA CREED

fore in repeating this magic Incantation, sum up
and say —

Praise, Praise,
Praise God.

Praise His eternal wisdom (Law)
Praise the students of this Law

The Illumined !

[Translated from the Buddhist Tripitaka, Nanjio's
Catalogue, No. 20.]

INDEX

Absolute Reality, 92, 93, 95, 96,

102.

Age, Boundless, 14.
Aim of the book, 65.
All beings as themselves, 95.
All things in common, 217.
Alpha and Omega, 13.
Amitabha, 64, 122.

school, 10, 13, 23, 26, 28.
Amitagus Sutra Padesa, 10.
Angels, 21.
Anshikao, 11.

Archytype, 52, 65, 68, 70,83, 105.
Arnold, Edwin, 2.
Art, 6, 28, 36.
Asamgha, 9.
Ascension, 180.
Ascetics, 198, 199.
Ashvagosha, 2, 9, 27, 40, 46, 48,

50.

Asoka, 26, 27.
Asuras, 22, 96.
Atheism, 12, 25.
Atonement, 257, 258, 259, 267.
A wakening of Faith, 1, 3,37, 45.

Babylon, 4, 6, 7.
Babylonia, 49.
Bahaist, 33.
Beal, 45, 50.
Beasts, 96.
Benevolent One, 22.
Bhagavat Gita, 8.
Bible of Mani, 5.
Birth, old age, etc., 171.
Bodiruki, 10.

Body, one teacher and disciples,

224.

Body, Broken, 229.
Borobudur, 28.
Brahminism, 36, 50.
Brotherhood, 47.
Buddha, 81, 93, 114, 122, 123.
Buddhas, 90-92, 95, 101-103,

108, 110, 116, 119,123,124.
Buddhahood, 92, 111.
Buddhism, 33, 103, 121.
Bunyiu Nanjio, 2, 11, 42, 44,

128.

Burnouf, 128.
Butler's Analogy, 38.

Callistus, Pope, 11.

Canton, 5.

Caste, 33.

Catholicism, Roman, 8.

Cause, Eternal, 104.

Central Asia, 6.

Ceylon, 1, 28.

Chang Kien, 5.

Chen Ju, 3, 46, 52.

Christian Science, 31.

Christianity, 2-4, 8, 12, 32, 33,

47, 48.
Chu Hi, 28.
Chung Chiao, 41.
Chung Lun, 9.
Clue to Christian teaching in

Buddhism in Diamond

Classic verse, 131.
Commandments, 112.
Commissioners, 5.

271

272

INDEX

Communion, 26.

Comparative Religion, 27, 29.
Confucianism, 8, 33, 34, 38, 44.
Contemplation, 117, 119.
Conversion, sudden, 154, 170,
192, 194, 216, 258.

Dai Nichi (Vairochana), 256.

Dai Seishi, 14.

Darmarakcha, 128.

Darwin, 25.

Dates of arrival of Lotus Scrip
ture in the Far East, 235,
note, 2.

Death and Ascension, 177.

Death and deliverance, 183-185,
188, 192, 208, 217, 235.

Devalokas, 29.

Devas, 22.

Devils, 32, 39.

Dharmagupta, 128.

Dharmakara, 23.

Diamond Sutra, 47,
commentary, 10.
prophecy, 131.

Dragons, 22.

Eddy, Mrs., 25.

Edmunds, 2.

Education neglected by Chinese

Buddhists, 135-6.
Egypt, 4, 28, 128.
Enlightenment, 72.
Epilogue of the Lotus, 12.
Eternal, the, 104, 106, 107, 112,
116, 117.

Light, 256.

Nature, 124.

Righteousness, 150, 151.

Soul, 72, 124.
Ethics, 7, 8.
Everlasting, the, 14.

Life, 150, 257.
Evil Spirits, 116, 117, 119.
Expansions of original scrip
tures, 257.

Fa Tsang same as Hsien Show,

41.
Fang Teng books, 128, 153, 255.

Fearless One, 22.

Ferry boats of salvation, 190.

Finite, the, 77.

Fire and water, signs and

miracles, 32, 244.
Five hundred disciples, 180.
Five hundred years later, 235.
Four-lined verse, 223, 233.
Fukagawa, 129.

Gandara, 28.
Ganges, sands of, 89-94.
Garments, clean, 201.
Gautama Buddha, 40, 47.
Ghosts, 96.
Gnosticism, 28, 29.
God, 114, 122.

cannot define by words, 70.
God of all grace, 255.
God on earth, 209.
God Vairochana, 256.
Godlike one, 150, 253, 256.
God's mantle, 249.
God's power, 198.
Gods, 7, 96, 108.
Gondophorus, 27.
Good men, 198.

are gods, 199.

Gordon, the Hon. Mrs. , 147, note.
Grace, 22, 30.
Great Gospel, the, 251.
Great Mighty One (or Mightiest),

14.
Great Physician, the twelve

vows of, 24.
Guide to Buddhahood, 29, 82.

Hangchow, 44.

Hearer of Prayers, 2, 17, 118.

Heaven, 13.

Hegel, 38.

Heresy, 113,118, 119.

Hideyoshi, 8.

Hinayana school, 2, 12, 13, 26,

29, 38, 40, 66, 87.
Hinduism, 6, 12, 33, 35.
Hirth, Dr., 5.
Hittites, 4.
Holy Ghost, 32.
Hsien Shou, 41, 42.

INDEX

273

Hua-yen-king, 42.
Huen Tsang, 6, 10.

I Ching, 6.

leyasu, 8.

Illumined, the, 154-155, 162,
165-167,170 177, 183,189,
195, 209, 210, 213, 228,
230, 235, 252.

Immanent, the, 69, 72.

Incarnate One, the, 253.

Incarnation, 19.

India, 5-8, 16, 28.

Infinite, the, 72.

Influence like incense, 8G.

Islam, 6, 33.

Japan, 8, 15, 28, 30.

Java, 28.

Jesus, 48.

Jews, 5.

John, Gospel of St., 127.

Joy, infinite, 218.

not like this world's joy,

219, 230.
Judaism, 12.
Judea, 7.
Judgments, 112.
Julai, 52, 53, 59, 60, 66.
lived on earth, 67, 72, 83, 89,

93-95, 98, 100, 102, 103,

110, 113, 116, 118, 119,

122, 123.
Julien, 44.

Kalpas, 124.

Kandapos, 22.

Kanghi Emp., 8.

Kanishka, 27.

Karma, 14, 27, 29, 30, 43, 48.

far surpassed, 38.
Kern, 2, 125.
Ki Shin Lun, 42.
Kialoulos, 22.
Kin Kang King, 47.
Kindergarten, religious teaching,

28.

Kingdom, 33, 36.
Kioto, 36.
Knowledge, 77.

Koran, 28.
Korea, 2, 8, 28.
Kumaragiva, 9, 128.
Kwanyin (Kwanon) 13-16, 23,

25, 28.

Law, 16, 19, 65, 67, 108, 125.
Learned, this book written for

the, 67.

Lien Hua King, 42.
Lien Hua King, Miao Fa, 127.
Light of Asia, the, 4.
Listening untiringly as in a

revival, 163.
Lloyd, Professor, 11.
Lohans (Rakans), 178, note, 4.
Lotus scripture, 2, 3, 12, 16,

26, 30, 31, 42, 127.
chief, 185.
jealousy of, 185, 192.

like many precious things, 233.
Lotus sutra dates, 235, note, 2.
Lli Tsu, 31.
Luck, 26.

Madhi school, 66.
Madyamaka Sastra, 9.
Mahapragna Paramita Sastra, 9.
Mahayana school, 1, 3, 9, 26,

30, 37, 40, 53, 68, 87, 123.
Maitreya, 9.
Majic words, 241.
Maming, 41.
Mani, Bible of, 5.
Manjusri, 15.
Marco Polo, 5.
Marks, good, 220.
Massacre, 5.
Max Miiller, 2, 44.
Mayers, Mr., 5.
Means of progress, 90, 91.
Medicine, true and false, 209-

212.

Mencius, 34.
Mercy, goddess of, 15.
Merit, 19.
Messiah, 6, 9, 52.
Mi Le Fo, 11, 15.
Mighty, One, 14.
Militarism, 8.

274

INDEX

Mind, 97, 99.

Ming dynasty, 5.

Ming Ti, 5.

Missionaries, 6, 11.

Model (True), 52-55, 68-72,

82, 86-95, 99-101, 111.
Mohammedanism, 5, 34.
Moholokias, 22.
Monasticism, 29, 30.
Mongolia, 28, 41.
Monotheism, 7, 12.
Moses, 34.
Mystery, teaching, 131.

Nagarguna, 9, 10.

Name, 7.

Nanjio, Bunyiu, 2, 11, 42, 44,

128.

Nanking, 43.
Nara, 36.

Nature of God and man, 75.
Nebula, 7.
Nestorian Christianity, 6, 12,

81.

New Buddhism, 8, 27, 32, 37.
New Testament, 14.
Nirvana, 87-89, 101, 106, 107,

117, 121.

Ocean and water illustration,
75, 85.

Omito Fu, 13, 43.

One Great Cause, 168.

One Mind, 94.

Other Lands for Great Physi
cian, 186, 187.

Pa-chung-kangyao, 40.

Pagoda, 161.

Palestine, 4.

Pao Shen, 96.

Paradise, 15, 48, 122, 172, 213.

Paramartha, 9, 10, 51.

Paramitas, five, 107, 112.

Parsee, 5.

Parthia, 56.

Peace, 116-119.

Pearl, precious, 196.

Pekinsr, 5.

Perfections, 24.

Persia, 5, 44.

Philanthropy, 26, 27.

Physician, 24, 25, 28, 148, 185.

Pieh Chiao, 40.

Pilgrims, Buddhist, 6.

Polytheism, 7, 8.

Pope, 33.

Pope Callixtus, 11.

Pottery illustration, 79.

Practice, 111, 113, 119, 121,

123, 125.

Prayers heard, 17-18.
Precious Ones, 65.
Prodigal Son, 173.
Prologue, 147.
Prophesy, remarkable, 131, 233,

246.

Prophets, 6, 47, 49.
Puhien Pusa, 12, 13.
Pure Land Doctrine, 26, 42, 213.
Purity, 104.
Pusa (saint), 61, 64, 69, 90, 91,

96, 97, 102, 106, 108.
Pusaship, 108.

Real, the, 71, 85.

Real Presence, 254.

Reasons for writing the book,

65.

Red Sea, 5.

Reformation, the paralleled, 8.
Repentance, 170.
Rest, 26.

Resurrection, 204.
Revelation of St. John, 13, 14.
Rewards of the Lotus, 235.
Roman Catholicism, 8.
Roman Pope familiar with

Buddhism, 11.
Royal Asiatic Society, 5.

Sages, 34.

Sainthood, five stages, 112.

Saints, 19, 81, 83, 84, 97, 107,

108, 112, 119, 124.
Sakyamuni, 2, 9, 12, 13, 22,

25-27, 33.
as God, 190, note, 1, 248,

note, 3.
opening seals, 191.

INDEX

275

Salvation, 12, 13, 48, 49, 76,

96.

Sanscrit, 11, 42, 51, 128.
Saviour, 226.
School, the great, 253, 254,

256, 258.
Schools, the three, 73, 87, 92,

93, 121.

Scriptures, 13, 66, 67, 101.
Sea of trouble, 237.
Secret Power, 193, 207.
Sects, 12.

Buddhist, 42.
Seed of wisdom, 110.
Sex, 28.
Shih Chiao, 41.
Shintoism, 33, 35.
Shrines as ferry boats, 190.
Sianfu, 31.
Siao Chiao, 41.
Sikhs, 33.

Six kinds of beings, 96.
Size of book, 128.
Socotra, 5.

Sons of God, 192, 196, 217.
Soochow, 44.
Soul Diviue, 97.

Eternal, 68.

One, 110, 116.
Space (or emptiness), 76, 99.
Stages of perfection, five, 112.
Sung Yun, 6.
Sutras, 53, 66, 79, 98, 100, 106,

122.
Suzuki, 3, 46, 50.

Ta Mo, the Buddhist patriarch

from India, 41.
Ta Shih Chih (the Mightiest

One), 13, 14.
Tai Ping Rebellion, 44.
Takakusu, 2.
Tang Dynasty, 51.
Taoism, 33, 35.
Taoists, 30, 32.

Lotus Scripture, 31, 32.
Tathagata, 52.
Teachers, 9, 26.
Tel-el- Amarna, 4.
Ten Commandments, 112.

Theism, 12.

Thomas (Apostle), 27.

Three attributes of the Soul, 68.

Three Precious Ones, the, 104,

124.

Tientai school, 40, 41.
Tow Swai Mansion, 106.
Transcendent, the, 69.
Transmigration, 87.
Trinity, 12, 15.
True Model, 68, 71.
True Reality, 166.
Truth makes free, 221.
Two godlike ones appeared, 191.

Unity of Godhead, 12.
Universe, 120.
Unreal, the, 71.

Vaipulia, 129, 255, 257.
Vairochana (Dainichi — the

Sun), 256.
Vasubhandu, 9, 10.
Vedas, 38.

Verse, one four-lined, 223, 233.
Vow, the Great One, 120, 121.

absent from the lower schools,

121.
Vows, 23, 24, 63, 95, 120, 121.

Wan Fa Kwei Hsin Luh, 3.
Water and fire, 32, 244.
Water and ocean illustration,

75, 85.
Way, 24.

Wen Shu Pusa, 12, 13, 41.
Wind rushing, 191.
Wisdom, 23, 61, 97, 109, 112,

123, 124.
essays on, 9.
highest, 152, 153,
Wisdoms, five or six, 61, 96.
Woman saved, 180, 188, 196,

234, 238, 265.
Womankind, 24.
Words cannot define God, 70.
Wuchini, 16-22.
Wutai mountain in Shansi, 41.

Zanzibar, 5.

Zusuki (or Suzuki), 3, 46, 50.

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Professor J. G. MURPHY, LL.D. Chron
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Rev. JAMES AITKEN, M.A. The Book of
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Zephaniah. Is. 6d.
Rev. EDWARD E. ANDERSON, M.A. St.

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Principal T. M. LINDSAY, D.D. Mark.

2s. 6d.

Professor J. S. CANDLISH, D. D. Ephesians.

Is. 6d.
Professor A. B. DAVIDSON, D.D. Hebrews.

Rev. J. P. LILLEY, D.D.
Epistles. 2s. 6d.

The Pastoral

GENERAL
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The Life of Christ. Is. 6d.

The Life of St. Paul. Is. 6d.

(Large-type Editions, 3s. 6d. each.)
ALEXANDER WHYTE, D.D.

The Shorter Catechism. 2s. 6d.
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The Christian Doctrine of God.
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NORMAN L. WALKER, D.D.

Scottish Church History, is. 6d.
Rev. W. D. THOMSON, M.A.

The Christian Miracles and the Con
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History of Christian Missions.

2s. 6d.
ARCHIBALD HENDERSON, D.D.

Palestine : Its Historical Geography.

With Maps, 2s. 6d.
Principal T. M. LINDSAY, D.D.

The Reformation. 2s.
REV. JOHN MACPHERSON, M.A.

The Sum of Saving Knowledge.
Is. 6d.

The Confession of Faith.

Presbyterianism. is. 6d.
Professor BINNIE, D.D.

The Church, is. 6d.

SUBJECTS-
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Butler's Three Sermons on Human

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President HAMILTON, D.D.

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Lessons on the Life of Christ. 2s. 6d.
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From the Exile to the Advent. 2s.
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MAR 1

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