The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-12-16

Christianity. He was not in favor of mo-
nopolizing the religions Of Japan, and said
there was room enough for both the Chris
tians aud Buddhists to work. He spoke
English fuenily, and he told me that he
had lived for two years in England. He
was very much depressed as to the re-
ligious state of Japan, and said that the
better classes were largely infdels or agnos-
tics, and many of those who pretended to
be Buddhists had no working faith in
them. I found him broad-minded in every
respect, and one thing which he said sur
prised ME. This was that his sect of Bud
dhists did not believe that NIrvana meant
a state of soul annihiatjon, but that it
meant only the humiliation of all that
was bad and of the continuance and
growth of all that was good in man. He
told me. however. that only few Bud
dhists were as liberal as he was, and from
what L saw in other parts of the empire l
am sure he was correct.
There are almost as may Buddhist sects
in Japan as there are Chri tiau secs in
America. They all believe in Buddha, but
they have different doctrines and different
modes of worship. There is one sect which
sell m edicine and charms which will pro-
tect you against coughs, consumption, the
devil or the smallpox. They sell all
kinds of sand, which is supposed to make
the limbs of the dead soft and flexible. so
they can be easily doubled in the box-like
coffins which are USED by the Japanese.
These are known as the Tendi sect, and
they have between four and five thousand
temples in Japan. The Monte sect. the
Nichiren and the Jodo sect may be called
the three most powerful branches of the
japanese Buddhists. The Montos wor-
ship Amida Buddha. aud they say that
earnest prayer, noble thoughts and good
! works are the elements of their faith 1t
is to this sect. | think, that these two big
TEMPLES which | have described belong.
and it has also immense temples in Tokyo
and elsewhe The Nichiren sect are the
shouting worshpers of the faith They
are violent and noisy, and they think that
all other sects except themselves go
straight to hell The Jodo sect do not eat
flesh. and they insist that their priests
should not marry. They pray with out
ceasing. and spend a great part of their
time sQuatting before bells of wood and
brass, on which they pound in order to
wake up the gods.
| could fiji this paper with the curious
things found about the Buddhist temples.
There are little wooden gods for babies
diseases. around which children's bbs ara
tied. and there are other gods which are
SUI posed TO help babies in teething. There
are some which are good for the stomach
ache, and others which will cure sore eyes.
In some of the temples there are sacred
ponies which you may feed with holy beans
at one cent plate aud gain religious credit
thereby. These are, | think, however
more connected with the Shnto ten pIes,
and, by the way, there is one famous white
horse at the temoles of Ise which is sup
posed TO be gifted with supernatural
powers. According to the stories current
in Japan, he has a good deal to do with the
warlike matters of the empire, and after
the Satsuma rebellion he disappeared and
did not come back for hree days. His re-
turn on tho third day was, so the japanese
papers state, considered very prophetic of
thu success of the Emperor's cause. Dur
ing the present struggle with China he dis
appeared again, and after ten days returned
looking fresh and WELL The prophets of
Japan state that this indicated Japan's
victories over China, and that the hos
tiilies would last three tiTes as long as
the Satsuma rebe lion.
There is NJ part of the East where the
missionaries do more work than in Japan,
and they have, as / said, stirred the
Buddhists into action. Many of the Japa-
nese 40 not like the idea that their country
should be field for missionary lab0rs, and
some Of the people think that such mis-
sion work as is done should be done by
native pastors. Not long ago the question
of foreign missinns came up in Parliament,
and it was argued from one standpoint
that the missionaries ought to be tolerated
because they brought a great deal Of
money into the country. 1t was stated In
the papers at that time tina there were 650
foreign missionaries in Japan, and they
averaged at least 500 per month, making
total of sos 900 per month spent by the
| missionaries. |; will thus be seen that
the Christian churches annually spend in
Japan at least S780.000 year, and these
| expenditures. The native papers thought,
ought to be encouraged. They stated
that there were 10000 Christians among
! The japanese. and that there were 1900 Jap
| anese pastors. There are Japanese who
think that their people are destined to in
troduce Chris ianty into China aud Korea,
and some favor the absorption and combl-
nation of the three religions of Buddhism,
Coufucianism and Christianity. The
missionaries in Japan are, in reality, doing
great deal of earnest work. The field is
divided up between the Catholics and the
ifferent Protestant sects. and there is in