Buddhism is the religion of the great bulk of the Japanese people. The farmers are Buddhists, so are the shopkeepers, so are the rank and file of the people. The ladies of the upper classes are Buddhists, so are most of their husbands, if they will be honest with themselves. Buddhism does not go well with the frock-coat and top hat which are the joy of the Japanese gentleman, and so he affects to lay it aside as a thing past use; but there comes to one and all a time when frock-coat and top hat fail to protect the head and heart against the terrors of a change inevitable and universal, and then I find that the Japanese turns after all to the faith which he has spent his life in professing to neglect. One has but to learn the Japanese language, and study the literature of to-day's daily life, to understand what a hold Buddhism has on the thoughts and affections of the people.

Christianity, if it would win Japanese Buddhism for Christ (and surely that is an inspiring ambition), must take these things into consideration. Buddhism needs its special preachers--men of sympathy and patience; men who, while proud of being Christians, are yet willing for Christ's sake, to be followers of S'akyamuni in all things lawful and honest; men who can say to the Buddhist, "I will walk with you, and together we will go to Him to whom you say S'akyamuni Himself bore witness." It is for such readers, primarily, that I have ventured to write this outline of Mahayana History.

"Charity never faileth; but, whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge (gnusis, bodhi), it shall vanish away."

INDEX

ABDICATIONS Of Japanese Emperors, etc., <page 260>, <page 283>

Abhidarma (metaphysical treatise) sect, <page 163>

Abhis'ekha. See KWANJO

Abraxas, <page 38>, <page 58>, <page 63>, <page 239>

Accommodation of truth (see HoBEN), <page 282>

Adi-Buddha, <page 107>-<page 110>, <page 113>. See AMITaBHA, VAIROC'ANA, S'AKYAMUNI, ONE

Akshobya (Ashuku Nyorai), <page 124>, <page 128>

Alexander the Great, <page 24>, <page 34>

Alexandria, <page 37>, <page 58>, etc.

Amaterasu, identified with Vairoc'ana, <page 201>

Amida = Amitabha

Amitabha, <page 16>, <page 128>; as psyxopompos, <page 129>; expounded, <page 265>; appears to Ryonen, <page 271>, <page 273>

Amitroxates, <page 26>

Ananda, <page 21>, <page 36>

Anavatapta, Lake, <page 112>

Anshikao, <page 111>, <page 117>; identified with Axidares, <page 118>

Antigonus Gonatas, <page 34>, <page 36>

Antioch, <page 57>, <page 69>