The morning call., 1890-10-19

stage, that OF hells. But this judgment Is
not final one, for even if one on his death
should, on account of his siGs, descend into
the lowest stage. he may, by repentance and
by his good conduct, raise himself from one
stage to another, and al last even enter with
the gods. The two great principles of this
religion are, said ShotaTO OZowa, q Japan
csc student, recently to a representative OF
the Detroi. Free Press: First, universal
mercy; and second, the unsett!ednesS of all
worldly affairs.
| think that the universal mercy Of Buddha
is wider ti.an Christian love, fer the reason
that Christian love is confined to Christians.
All outside Of that belief are called heathens
or pagans, while the universal mercy OF
Buddha is extended to all living things, even
the lowest of animals. 1t is N this account
that the japanese are forbidden TO kill or
treat with cruelty any living thing, except
from necessity.
As was stated before, the second great
principle is the belief in the unsettledness
# all worldly matters. The true follower of
Buddha, recognizing This, is not ambitious,
cOyetOuS or avdriclOus. Knowing that any
time lie may die, he lives only in this world
to prepare himself for u life of bliss in the
next. 1t is from this great doctrine that the
unseliishneSs and feeling o. charity which
prevails among our people originated. IL is
a weIl-known proverb in our country that,
'tWifP, son or royal crown does not follow
him VINO goes to die
The followers of Buddha are not in any
sense of the word idolaters. 1t is true that
throughout our country one may ind many
monuments and temples erected in his name,
but they were built i'll grateful recognition
Of the good lie did, and not Tor the purpose
of worShiping MIN as a god. They are looked
upon and reytrenced the same as Christian
does lS cross.
As rough estimate. il may be stated that
of the 40,QU0C00 in japan, q, COG, 600 are fol-
lowers OF Buddha, who have erected in his
honor about 100000 temples, which are
scattered throughout tie empire. There are
eight different denominations of BuddhiSts,
which CORE pond TO the different denomina-
tons of the Christian religion.
Followers Of Confucius may be found in
all classes among the japanese, both
among the ShlntGnistS, BuddhiSts and
Christians. His teachings ere ntr, duced
into Japan from China about 1000 years
ago. The four doctrines OF this religion
are mercy, duty, dignity and respect, Wis
dom. For daily life these rules are laid
down., honesty; 2, Loyalty to tine SOW
ereign power; ), parental plety; 4, irater-
nal love. Home lie in Japan is governed
entirely by these rules, and in particular
do they follow she rule of parental picty,
IN many cases carrying 1t to excess. TIE re-
lations of husband and wife are regulated
by the rule of dignity AID respect, and 1t is
very seldom that either the crime OF fOrnl-
cation or incest is heard Of, and the divorce
band or the wife, which cannot be said OF
the Chinese or the western nations. 1t can
also be said Of the japanese that when a
promise of marriage is once given 1T is never
broken by their permission.
The next religion Is the ShintoniSt, which
has existed for $3.50 years, or since the
NEUROLOGICAL age. This belief is followed
principally by the members of the royal
family, who worship duo-god, male aud
female, from whom our first Emperor
descended. This tradition all japanese
believe in, and claim their common origin
from this same source, in which they
differ from all other nations | said the
belief i'll regard to their common origin is
shared alike by all the people, but it Is
only the Shintoni,ts no follow the belief
of the duo-god, whom they alone worship.
1t is the fact of our having the same religion
as the Emperor which makes our people so
patriotic, and which enabled them, about
500 years ago, to combine SO strongly as to
beat back the Chinese, who were seeking to
invade Japan by land and by sea. AT that
time tie Chinese were accounted the
strongest nation in the world, while the
japanese We're one of the weakest During
that fight, which lasted the whole Of one
night, over 10000 Chinese were killed and
the remainder of the army all captured,
making it nece ssary for the Emperor to send
back to China three of that nation to convey
the information Of the total destruction OF
their force.
AT the present time the japanese are
building a great monument, called GenkO no
Yeki, to commemorate that event so famous
in The history Of our country. A famous
provcrb or saving Of the ShintoniSts is,
''Kokoro-dani makotono Michi-nl kanain-
aba inoraZutOtemo Kamiya mamoran,"
"W Eom>oev does that which is right and
| just, the same God will gladly protect with
| out prayers" The followers of the Shin
| tonist religion number about 5000, 600 souls,
| and have about s,0OO,000 temples, four or
| five of which are presided over by one min
| lister, who also teaches in the Japanese
| grammar schools.
| On the whole it may be said that the
| Buddhist religion regulates the individual,
| the Confucian the families, and the Shin
| tonist tie people as nation. Shintonism is
| the only really national religion in the
world. 1t is an indispensable part OF the
| japanese Government, and is looked upon
| ty the people as giving them their origin,
| aud has been followed by the royal family
Tor ages.
1t is common saying in our country that
we should do any good, however slight, and
| do no wrong. however small. On this ac-
count the teachers of the Christian religion
we're welcomed when they came to our
| country. Christianity was first introduced
| into Japan about 800 years ago from Portu-
| guese, but the people did not receive IL very
| iavoraUly. II was not until about fifty years
| ago that it finally got a footing and at the
| pItStUI tlint all VI tuc
| Christian religion are represented in
| Japan. Their converts were at first
to be found principally among the
| lower and more ignorant classes, but they are
now generally received from all classes. IL
| all there are probably between 10000 Rnd
| 10000 Christians and something over 1C0t
churches, which are mostly to be found IL
| the central part of the country.
One of the features of the political cam
| To- riy xuil n