The New York herald., 1922-03-26


Govern. E. p. Dutton & Co.
BUDDHIST PSALMS. From the jap
aIlese af Shinran Shonin. Translated
by S. Yamabe and L. Adams Beck.
Z. p. Dutton.
TO ST attempts to present
M Buddhism to The English
reader belong at one of two
extremes: either they are SO highly
technical as to be inteEliSible only
20 the expert trained metaphysi-
clan. or they are SO ''popularized"
and attenuated as to be practically
meaningless. Some OF the latter
class are also open to the objection
that they give a narrow, sectarian
fragment rather than the whole
thing; as if "hard SHELF Baptist
or D member of the Christadelphian
the whole sum and substance of
Christianity. DR.. McGovern's book
falls happily between these ex-
tremes- It is soiidly scientific, schol-
ariy and critical. but it is not over
loaded with minutiae, and it is lu-
cidly, fiuently written, readily under
standable by any educated, inteli-
gent reader. Not that it can be
hastily absorbed and digested with
out mental effort; no system Of phi
iosophy can be conquered that way.
DR.. McGovern is exceptionally
qualified for this task. He is not
only lecturer on Chinese and
Japanese at the University OF Lon
don but is also an honorary priest"
OF the Nishi Honganji. of Kyoto,
which Is the Japanese equivalent of
i national cathedral, from which he
had a Buddhist degree. Moreover,
this book is part of a thesis pre-
sented as work toward that degree.
1t thus carries the stamp of Orien-
tai approval and may be regarded
as an authoritative statement OF
Japanese Buddhism of to-day. DR..
McGovern Is also the author of sew
eral treatises upon japanese life and
language; his manual of .-Colloqufal
Japanese" was recently reviewed in
THE HERALD.
Especially useful is the introduc-
tory chapter. outlining the doctrinal
evolution OF Buddhism, from its in
eeption TO the present diversity. as
the average western reader is apt
10 think of Buddhism rs il 1t were
4 simpler thing than it is. 1t falls
to-day into two broad divisions, the
Hinayana, or promitive Buddhism
still current in Ceylon, Burma and
Siam, and the Mahayana. which is
much more widely extended and pre-
walls in China, Japan and parts of
India. The latter Is again divisible
into its earlier variety and a So
called Reformed" Mahayana- DR.
McGovern says that these divisions
are fairly comparable TO the separate
Occidental faiths, the old Hinayana
being analogous to Judaism, Unre-
formed Mahayana to Roman Cathol-
icism and Reformed Mahayana &c
Professionalism. But the analogy
must not be pressed too far.
Primitive Buddhism, SO far as its
tenets can be worked out from the
surviving monuments, was basically
agnostic. 1t also rested upon con-
eeption of the universe as Becom-
ing, rather than as Being: all things
in a state of flux, a phenomena
world rather than real one, the
noumenon being beyond reach of the
mind. This worked out into the
"Three Marks" which were held f
be essential characteristics of life
as man must see it. They are: (1)
All is impermanent. (2) AL is sor-
rowful. (S) All is lacking a self
this last including the universe as
q whole as well as the individual
soul. and meaning that nothing !:
simple or indivisible but complex
and subject to constant change
From these concepts was evolved tht
idea of Nirvana, which meant ;
state of mind, attainable here ant
now by contemplation" an,
amounting TO an escape from sui
fering. 1t is thus a profoundly pes