FORMATIVE ELEMENTS OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM.

The first element, which deals with the worship of the Ancestors of the Imperial House This refers to Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, which focuses on ritual purity and the veneration of spirits (kami) and ancestors., is a pure worship of nature, as full of joy and life as was the nature worship of the ancient Greeks. Nor does it derive its pessimism from the teachings of Confucius; for the Chinese philosophers held that Nature was good, and Confucianists and Buddhists have long since parted ways on this fundamental principle original: "tenet". Japanese literature is pessimistic because it is saturated original: "impregnated" with Buddhism, the spirit of which remains even after the belief itself has been discarded.

I will now move on to the more positive teachings of the two faiths which I have undertaken to compare.

(2). Christianity "believes," and Christian belief is not merely an intellectual agreement to certain propositions which may or may not be true, but which have probability in their favor. Instead, it is an act of the will, moved by reason and evidence, to accept certain propositions as absolutely true—so true that we are ready to alter the whole course and direction original: "tenour" of our life in order to give expression to the faith we have accepted.

With such a faith, the Christian believes in God in such a manner that the existence of God is taken among us as an obviously true statement original: "self-evident proposition".

Buddhism tries to deny God, but does not succeed very well. It assumes the existence of an eternal, uncreated matter which lies at the base of all things. It is the eternal substance of which the universe is only a manifestation original: "phenomenon", the mere "surface wave" which could not exist without the water of the ocean underneath. It is called Shinnyo The term Shinnyo refers to "Suchness" or "Ultimate Reality" in Mahayana Buddhism—the way things are in their essential nature.. Everything that is exists as a manifestation of Shinnyo, which is strictly material and impersonal. In the sum total of things that exist, however, we must include abstract concepts such as justice, mercy, and truth. These also must be considered manifestations of one and the same Shinnyo, and their existence shows that in Shinnyo there is also an immaterial and abstract part from which these immaterial phenomena develop. This is spoken of as Isshin original: "Isshin"—meaning "One Mind.", the "one Mind" of the universe, as...