It is a true instinct that has led the Shinshu or "True Sect" believers in Japan to place Shotoku on a pedestal of honour as the firstfruits of Amidaism in Japan. For undoubtedly he was inspired by the idea of that great Being, the counterpart of our Western Christ, who humbled himself that he might save man, who was exalted when he had accomplished that salvation, and from whom so much of comfort and strength has flowed out to suffering humanity in Japan and the Far East. A further study of Comparative Chronology, one of the most important branches of the study of religion, will show us that Shotoku was the contemporary of that religious movement which took place in the capital of the Chinese Tangs, when the victories of Mahometanism brought Christian and Zoroastrian exiles to the court of Singanfu, to rub shoulders together in the sympathy that came to them from the participation in a common misfortune.

Footnotes

^181:1 The grades are as follows: Daitoku, Shotoku, Daijin, Shojin, Tairei, Shorei, Daishin, Shoshin, Daigi, Shogi, Daichi, Shochi. Toku, Jin, Rei, Shin, Gi, Chi (virtue, benevolence, propriety, sincerity, justice, wisdom) are the basal Confucianist virtues.

^182:1 Taitsung of the Tang Dynasty, A.D. 627.

^182:2 Aston's "Nihongi," vol. i. p. 129, etc.

^185:1 This passage may possibly have inspired one of the recent poems of her Majesty the Empress--

Ayamatan
Soto wo omoeba,
Karisome no
Koto ni mo mono wa
Tsutsushimaretsutsu.

"Should we fear
To slip or err, we take good care ourselves,
And e'en the smallest deed, do heedfully."

^185:2 P. Balet ("Melanges Japonais," vol. iii. p. 287) points out that when Shotoku, in 607, sent students to China (Sui Dynasty, 590-619) to study actual conditions, he chose only the descendants of Chinese families naturalized in Japan. All bear the designation Ayabito, which denotes a Chinaman naturalized in Japan.

^186:1 See Mr. Consul-General J. C. Hall, "A Japanese Philosopher on Shinto," in Transactions of the Third International Congress for the Study of the History of Religions (Oxford, 1908).

^187:1 In Japanese, "Hokekyo," "Yuima-kyo," "Shomangyo." In Nanjo's Catalogue, Nos. 134, 144, and 23 (48).

^188:1 See my "Wheat among the Tares."

^188:2 The oldest Image in Japan, the one sent by the King of Kudara in 552, is said to be at the Zenkoji, in Nagano. It represents Amida, Kwannon, and Seishi. See my "Wheat among the Tares," passim, and Dr. Tada Kanae's "Shoshinge Kawa" (in Japanese).

^189:1 It would be almost impossible for any single-handed historian of the Mahayana to translate all the Chinese texts he is obliged to mention. It requires time, money, and many sets of brains and hands to lay bare all that is contained in the vast Mahayana Canon.