Art. XV.

Art. XVI.

7. Make additions to the Library as instructed by the Council;

8. Present to the Council at its June Meeting a statement of the stock of Transactions possessed by the Society;

9. Act on the Publication Committee;

10. Attend every Council Meeting and report on Library matters, or, if absent, send to the Corresponding Secretary a statement of any matter of immediate importance.

LIBRARY AND MEETING ROOM.

The Society's Rooms and Library shall be at No. 17 Tsukiji, Tōkyō, to which may be addressed all letters and parcels not sent to the private address of the Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, or Librarian.

The Library shall be open to Members for consultation during the day, the keys of the book cases being in the possession of the Librarian or other Member of Council resident in the neighbourhood; and books may be borrowed on applying to the Librarian.

SALE OF TRANSACTIONS.

Art. XVII. A Member may obtain at half-price one copy for his own use of any Part of the Transactions issued prior to thə date of his Membership.

Art. XVIII. The Transactions shall be on sale by Agents approved of by the Council and shall be supplied to these Agents at a discount price fixed by the Council.

NOV 9 1892

A JAPANESE PHILOSOPHER.

BY GEORGE Wм. Knox, D.D.

[Read January 20, 1892.]

INTRODUCTION.

Previous to the recent introduction of western literature and science, the intellectual development of the Japanese may be studied in three periods, each characterized by a distinctive system of religion and ethics.

The first period came to an end in the eighth century of our era. It was the period of Shinto and of pure native thought. It has been fully treated in the Transactions of this society.1

The second period began with the introduction of Buddhism and, with it, of the Chinese civilization in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. Thenceforth for a thou

sand years the new religion was supreme. "All education was for centuries in Buddhist hands, Buddhism introduced art, introduced medicine, moulded the folk-lore of the country, created its dramatic poetry, deeply influenced its politics and every sphere of social and intellectual activity." Religiously its highest distinctively Japanese development was in the

1 "The Kō-ji-ki," translated by B. H. Chamberlain, Vol. X. Appendix ; "The Revival of Pure Shin-tau," by Ernest Satow, Vol. III. Appendix; "Ancient Japanese Rituals," by the same, Vols. VII, IX; also "The Classical Poetry of the Japanese" by B. H. Chamberlain.

2 "Things Japanese," by B. H. Chamberlain, p. 71, 2nd Ed.

Vol. xx.-1

thirteenth century, when the Nichiren and Shin sects were founded. Its impress is deep upon the literary masterpieces of the eleventh and twelfth centuries."

The third period began with the establishment of peace under Tokugawa Ieyasu and continued until the period of Meiji in which we live. It is the period of the Chinese philosophy as interpreted by the great scholars of the So (Sung) dynasty in China.

These periods intermingle and overlap. Repeated instances of Chinese influence are detected even in the earliest remains of pure Japanese literature; in the second period the influence of the earlier remained and the force of the Confucian teaching was strongly felt. And in the third period not only did the influences of the three intermingle, but they came to philosophical and religious self-consciousness and conflict.

The Confucian ethics came to Japan early in the Christian era, just how early is uncertain. The wide influence of Chinese thought and civilization date from the introduction of Buddhism; but the distinctive triumph of the Chinese philosophy was in the seventeenth century of our era. In Japan as in China the prevalent philosophy must be distinguished from the traditional and dogmatic ethics.

PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS.

This distinction often has been overlooked and the philosophy has been identified with the teachings of the Sages. Then, as a second step, these teachings are described as "an attempt to isolate the purely human side of morals," finding its sole origin"in the conviction that human moral life has its basis and its safeguards in human nature."4 The words of Confucius and Mencius appear to be a set of moral truths-some would

66

3 James Troup's translations of the Shin teaching, Vols. XIV‘ XVII of these Transactions.

4 46 'The International Journal of Ethics," Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 307.