Again, if we contemplate the Supreme, whether by that we mean an individual personal God or an impersonal principle, we shall at once recognize, as indispensible attributes, the existence in Him (or It) of Mercy and Wisdom. The Supreme without these two attributes is unthinkable to the mind of civilized man. Moreover, Mercy and Wisdom are not merely attributes of God, they are also avenues by which we can approach Him. Buddhism professes to have two gates by which we may touch the Supreme, the Gate of Wisdom, and the Gate of Mercy. It professes philosophical teachings whereby man is taught to know, see, understand, all the Wisdom that there is in the Supreme; it has also a Gate of Mercy, through which the Mercy and Love of the Supreme flows into man's heart to soften and purify it. The Shinshu teaches its disciples to enter Heaven by the Gate of Mercy. It is pietistic [**] rather than philosophical.

But there are two ways of entering even at the Gate of Mercy. We may try to enter in on the strength of our own merits, [*+] and claim the clemency

of Heaven as a reward for the good deeds and holy actions that we have done ourselves This is known in Japanese as shodo, the "holy path," and is the path generally taught by Buddhist sects. But Buddhism (in Japan at any rate) speaks also of another way by which the gate may be entered. It tells of a Saviour who has entered for us, [**] who has smoothed the path, and prepared the mansion, and now calls us to the Paradise of Bliss. This is called in Jodo mon, the Gate that leads to Paradise, and it is to this Gate that the Shinshu believer is taught to direct his footsteps.

Again, a man may enter the Gate that leads to Paradise by faith in the Saviour who calls him to come that way, and yet find room in his heart to give worship and reverence to other Buddhas, Saints, and deities. Other Jodo sects may do this, [*+] but the Shinshuist knows (or professes to know) no Saviour but Amida, whom alone he worships with his whole heart.

Similarly, a man may say; "It is true that I am saved by faith, but my faith in Amida cannot set me free from obedience to the wise rules laid down by S'akyamuni for the guidance of his disciples." [*++] So he abstains from meat and worldly amusements, abjures marriage and lives in a monastery. "But,"

says the Shinshuist, in reply, "the Truth is not so. If I am saved by Faith, the Law becomes of none effect. If Amida saves me through His merits only, then my actions come to be of infinitely small importance, Neither what I eat, nor my attitude towards marriage, nor anything of this kind can possibly affect my eternal salvation." So the Shinshu believer, clerical or lay, lives as a citizen of the world, eats as his neighbours eat, marries like them and rears up children, and says that the home and not the monastery is the focus of the religious life.