^49:* Beneath the cloud. It is possible that this word "cloud" may have some reference to the name given to Manichaean temples, Dar-un-Komyoji, "Temple of the Light Shining in the Great Cloud." See Appendix I and II

^49:+ Sideways i.e. by a short cut. Salvation by Faith. For the expression, "taken hold of us," a few lines above, Cf. Phil. iii. 12.

^49:++ The five spheres of existence into which Evil enters are: 1. Angels, (liable to fall). 2. Men. 3. Devils in Hell. 4. Hungry Demons. 5. Beasts and Brutes.

^49: section Abhidharma etc. In these lines, Shinran is referring especially to the seven Patriarchs of the Shinshu, whom we shall have occasion to mention again. The writers of the Abhidharma or metaphysical treatises of the Buddhist Canon must all be placed the end of the first century A.D., if not later. The Apocryphal Gospel of St. Thomas tells us that the great Christian preacher met a martyr's death at Gandhara, the very spot where the remains of Kanishka's temple with the relics of S'akyamuni have recently been discovered. And only a few years after this there arises in Buddhism a school of preachers who say that Salvation comes not by any works that man can do, but by Faith in One who has given himself to be our Saviour!

^50:* Lanka is the old name of Ceylon. In the Sutra known in Japan as the Ryoga Kyo, (Lankavatara Sutra) it is said by some that S'akyamuni (whether miraculously or not) visited Ceylon, and there prophesied that Nagarjuna should appear some six centuries afterwards, and do all the things here mentioned. I cannot here enter into the question of the genuineness of this much disputed Buddhist prophecy.

^50:+ The question of Entity and Non-Entity which troubled Buddhism in the first century A.D. also under the name of the Gnostic heresy known as Docetism, was troubling the infant Christian Church. From recent discoveries it would seem the Entity teachers (Sarvastivadins) were most powerful under Kanishka.

^51:* Nagarjuna's date may be placed somewhere about A.D. 120, during the reign of Kanishka, who flourished until about A.D. 150. The Council which Kanishka held is said to have devoted very especial attention to the Abhidharma, and was followed by a great out-burst of missionary activity which brought the Amida books to China in A.D. 147. V. A. Smith (Early Hist. of India p. 231) says that this was due to Kanishka's conquest of Khotan, which opened the way for his Buddhist subjects to penetrate into China.

^51:+ Vasubandhu's date is now generally placed about A.D. 450.

^51:++ One Shinshu priest has explained this to me in the Singular, as referring only to the Daikyo, or Amitayurdhyani Sutra.

^51: section bestows. Cf. Eph. ii. 8.