between heterodox and orthodox as the antics of the six [mythical] dragons. I consider the doctrine of sameness as the absolute ground of reality. I consider all the religious works done for universal salvation as like the plants in the four seasons."

Footnotes

^3:1 This is the first Buddhist literature ever translated into the Chinese language. It was brought into China by the first missionaries from Central India, A. D. 67, who were specially invited by the Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty. Though some authorities think that the sutra existed in Sanskrit in the present Chinese form, the most probable fact is, as maintained by another authority, that the translators extracted all these passages from the different Buddhist canonical books which they brought along for their missionary purposes, and compiled them after the fashion of the Confucian Analects, beginning each chapter with the stereotyped "The Buddha said," which corresponds to the Confucian "The Master said." This was the most natural thing for the first Buddhist workers from India to do in the land of Confucianism.

The sutra, besides being a collection of moral and religious sayings of the Buddha, is interesting to us at least in the following two points: (1) It throws some light on the development which Buddhism made in India from the Parinirvana of Buddha down to the times of these two translators; and (2) it allows us to see what the first Buddhist propagandists thought best to introduce, as the most essential doctrines of their faith, among the people who had hitherto been educated mostly by the Confucians but partly by the Laotzeans.

The first translators did not think it wise to present their doctrine systematically by writing a discourse or a lengthy treatise, as they were wont to do in their native country, nor did they think it advisable to reproduce an entire sutra in the language of their newly adopted country. On the other hand, they culled Buddha's short sayings and dialogues from various sutras, imitating the general style of the Confucian sacred book Lun Yu. They must have thought that Buddhism, which has so many voluminous canonical books and deeply metaphysical treatises, would be best promulgated in China through an anthology, and not through an exact reproduction of the original texts. The present sutra is undoubtedly the result of these considerations, and on this account it must be said to be well suited for popular reading.

^4:1 Cf. "The Practice of Dhyana." (<page 146>.)

^4:2 "The Story of Deer Park" is told elsewhere. (<page 182>.)

^4:3 This is explained in the article entitled "The Wheel of the Good Law." (<page 101>.)

^4:4 Buddhist monks are called Bhikshus, literally "beggars."

^4:5 What the Buddhists understand by Enlightenment is explained in the sermons. (See <page 132>.)