Formative Elements of Japanese Buddhism

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

...known as the Mahayana one of the two main branches of Buddhism, meaning "Great Vehicle" and contemporary with Christianity, which flourishes in China and Japan. Without such a study, we cannot provide Buddhism with the answer it requires; however, through such a study, we may be surprised to find how many points of resemblance exist. This book has been undertaken to address this need in some measure.

In the meantime, let us remember that the Buddhist agrees with us in saying that religious truth is universal and must be catholic original: "catholic" in the sense of universal or all-encompassing—applicable to and accepted by people of every nation and race. Furthermore, a Buddhist can be met and won for Christ through a faithful realization of the unity and holiness of the Christian name.

(9). Buddhism has some conception of the "Communion of Saints." It recognizes that all people who perceive the Truth (called Satori or "Enlightenment" in Japanese) form, in fact, a mystic brotherhood bound to one another by many ties of life and doctrine. It also teaches that surrounding Sakyamuni the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama and other Buddhas, there is a class of beings called Bodhisattvas (Japanese: Bosatsu). Though these beings stand on the brink of Nirvana the state of final liberation from suffering and rebirth, they are able to reach out a saving and helpful hand to their struggling fellow beings.

These Bosatsu form a body of superhuman intercessors and mediators. It is the boast of Mahayanism that while the earlier "Small Vehicle Buddhism" also known as Hinayana or Theravada only taught a person to save their own soul, the larger vehicle of the Mahayana teaches a person to direct all their energies toward attaining Bodhisattvaship the state of being a Bodhisattva dedicated to the salvation of others, so as to be able to help in saving mankind.

Buddhism, therefore, has a faint conception of the Christian doctrine of the Communion of Saints. However, because it lacks anything approaching a Central Mediator (except in one instance) such as Christ is to the Christian, the doctrine has developed in various, mutually opposite directions.

In some sects, the entire attention has been devoted to a specific "saint." Thus, in certain bodies, such as the Tendai a major school of Japanese Buddhism that emphasizes the Lotus Sutra,