These writers were transmitters of the wisdom of the Chinese and worshipped at the shrine of Tei-Shu. No Western ever held more closely to the plenary inspiration of the Bible as expounded by his favourite commentator than these men to the Chinese Classics. They contain the absolute, eternal truth of Heaven and Earth. By it the universe with all its hosts were formed. This " Way" is the unchanging wisdom, the everlasting reason, the Divine archetype. No deviation from it can go unpunished and no variation in its exposition can be endured. It is not more remarkable that the Japanese orthodoxy attempted no improvement, no amendment in the Classics, than that our orthodox writers attempted no improvement or change in our sacred text. As western writers on theology fill their pages with Biblical references, these writers on the Chinese philosophy fill their pages with allusions to the classics. Direct quotations abound, and references and phrases, so that every sentence has its classical colour.

It is surprising that the Japanese scholars have attempted no systematic exposition of either the orthodox or the heterodox philosophy. They have been content to go to the writings of Shushi and of his Chinese expositors. So too have his commentaries satisfied them. There is not an original and valuable commentary by a Japanese writer. They have been content to brood over the imported works and to accept unquestioningly polities, ethics and metaphysics.37

WANT OF ORIGINALITY.

This foreign system moulded the intellectual life of the nation. Within its boundaries thought moved and was confined. As the new was forbidden so was the old cast off. Buddhism and Shintō were as heretical as the teaching

37 The Ancient Learning School "Kogaku" also rested upon the modern Chinese School.-Faber's Doctrines of Confucius, p. 34; and Mr. Haga's "Note" below.

of Oyōmei. Society, government, education, literature, religion and ethics, all were supplied from this one source. Buddhism, as we have seen, influenced the thought of the Chinese philosophers, but it was permitted no new influence, it was permitted to add no new ideas here in Japan where it had been supreme for a thousand years. Shinto effected no modification. And the Japanese produced no scholar who could do more than repeat what he had been taught. Yet this philosophy in thus permeating the nation's life could not fail to be modified. It felt the influence of the national ideals. It varied from its original standard, yet not as modified in statement or in system but as insensibly taking on a new colour and feeling a new spirit.

It follows that one cannot readily point out the distinguishing characteristics of the Chinese philosophy in Japan. There is certainly a difference. Here the samurai takes to himself the title reserved in China for the literati and adds

arms to letters. The vocation of arms occupies thus the highest place of honour. So too does loyalty take precedence of filial obedience and the ethical philosopher can praise without qualification men who desert parents, wife and children. for the feudal lord. And with this loyalty is an undue exaltation of a disregard of life, an exaltation that comes near to canonizing those who kill themselves no matter how causelessly, no matter though crime be the reason for an enforced suicide. The impetuous, uncompromising, warlike, partisan character of the people is reflected in their morals.

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CONFUCIANISM AND THE PEOPLE.

The Confucian literature in Japan so far instructed the mass of the people as to provide summaries of moral rules for them. But these moral rules could exist in harmony

38 Similar instances are found, of course, in Chinese history. 39 Pp. 41-42 below

with a prevailing Buddhism. And as in China for centuries and in Japan for a thousand years the Chinese ethics knew no quarrel with the religion of the Buddha, so even after the educated men in Japan had given up Buddhism it still retained its full power over the lower classes and could incorporate the Confucian ethics with itself.

One effort, long continued, was made to win the people not merely to the Confucian ethics but to the foreign philosophy. Toward the close of the eighteenth century a school of popular preachers expounded the rudiments of the Chinese system to the people. They made such concessions to Buddhism as they thought the case demanded, but sought to substitute their system for the people's faith. They continued in a succession until the middle of the nineteenth century but their failure was complete. They made no lasting impression upon the nation's mind. The Chinese philosophy remained the exclusive possession of the higher classes.40

THE REJECTION OF BUDDHISM.

The choice of the Chinese philosophy and the rejection of Buddhism was not because of any inherent quality in the Japanese mind. It was not the rejection of supernaturalism or of the miraculous. The Chinese philosophy is as supernaturalistic as some forms of Buddhism. The distinction is not between the natural and the supernatural in either system but between the seen and the unseen. The Chinese philosophy does not reject the extraordinary; it has a belief in an all-pervading natural "law", but the wonderful and the prodigious are contained therein. It too has its Theo

40 Numerous translations of the sermons of this school have been printed, among the earliest in A. B. Mitford's "Tales of Old Japan pp. 288-326. The sermons called Kyuō Dōwa and Shingaku Michi no Hanashi are best known. Besides these there are among others; -Shō-ō Michi no Hanashi, Dōni-ō Dō-wa, Shingaku-kyoyu-roku', and Zoku-zoku Kyuō Dōwa.

phanies and its faith-compelling signs. It was not the rejection of a religion for a philosophy, for Buddhism can be as philosophical as Shushi or Ōyōmei, in fact these drew much of their doctrine from its stores. And the Chinese philosophy is as religious as the original teaching of Gautama. Neither Shushi nor Gautama believed in a Creator, but both believed in gods and demons. By the twelfth century A. D. the earlier belief in monotheism, granting that once there was such belief in China, had disappeared. In a single passage the Shundai Zatsuwa seems to indicate belief in one personal God, but the expressions fade away, and there remains only a belief in the Divinity of the immanent forces of the universe.41 It holds to "a power not ourselves that makes for righteousness" and to our constant dependence upon the Unseen. It has little place for prayer, but has a vivid sense of the Infinite and the Unseen and fervently believes that right conduct is in accord with the "eternal verities." Its morality "is touched with emotion."

THE ETERNAL VERITIES.

In neither Shushi nor Ōyōmei is there firm grasp of the idea of personality. As there is no personal Creator, man is the highest expression of the forces of the universe. Even gods and devils fear his "determined mind." But as in the makrokosm so in the mikrokosm: the ultimate realities are force and law. Man has no immortal soul. He is highest in the scale of existence, yet is he only one in the endless series. The station is greater than the individual and it determines him. His whole duty is to live as befits his station. The Buddhist doctrine that a man may leave his station and become a priest is to be abhorred. It comes from the false doctrine of "three worlds." Shaka forsook his kingdom and became a hermit. He did not know fully the truth. To the Confucianist such asceticism is the act of

41 P. 50 below.

a madman. Every man is to follow the "Way" with unshaken heart in the station in which he was born. To think certain acts virtuous is the error of the ignorant and the heretical.' 742

THE ORIGIN OF EVIL.

For all evil is disarrangement. Confusion is the essence of evil. Strictly speaking there is no other evil. "Nothing is bad by nature but everything is good, yet with a distinction of rank." When this distinction of rank is preserved all are good. But this ideal goodness is rarely realized. "The gods are the activity of Heaven and Earth, the excellent power of the In and Yō, and of the true 'law.' But as the gods come to the world there is both good and evil. For though the working throughout the four seasons of the five elements is of . . . . no evil at all, still as that'spirit' is scattered throughout the universe and confused there arise unexpected winds, heat, cold and storms." 43 So is it with man and all that is his. As a part of nature he too is good, originally good, but as his "nature is individualized both good and evil appear.' 9744 Let him put himself in harmony with the true nature,-above all let him obey with unshaken heart, and all will be well.

The ancient

So with the state, crime is “confusion.” order has been lost and therefore evil appears. "In the time of old the Sage was on the throne; the Superior Man was next in authority and all who ruled were wise, the stupid occupying their natural position below the rest. So from highest to lowest wisdom determined the rank and there was none evil. The only distinction was of superior and inferior." And the Sage ruled by doing "nothing." It was enough that he was enrobed, enthroned, with folded

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