of the masses being no more than a degenerate and bastard outgrowth. It is the metaphysic that saves, not the relic; true views as to so-called subject and object, the rejection of dualism, the identification of the self and the not-self, and knowledge of the intrinsic nature of that philosophical and mystic formula confounded by the ignorant with the man Buddha -these constitute the one thing needful, the path of wisdom and of light, the 'open sesame to present and eternal happiness.

Now the teaching of Buddhism upon the question above referred to is not only interesting in itself, but, as we hope to show, extremely suggestive in view of the theories held by conflicting schools of metaphysical speculation in Europe. The visible Universe, it is proclaimed, is phenomenal, and phenomenal only. The whole system of Buddhism rests upon the essential difference between that which is seen and temporal, and that which is unseen and eternal. So far Buddha anticipates Kant, and all who hold with him, in regarding the world, which is changeable and destructible in forms,

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as simply the external appearance of an underlying eternal Reality, and teaches that it is only those who have attained to true enlightenment that are able to perceive this Reality as existing. This leads to the further doctrine that all phenomena, as such, exist subjectively in the consciousness of every individual, and thus only; so that all differences between them are a matter of the purest imagination, and the whole world, in that sense, an illusion. Thus, he anticipates Berkeley in finding his synthesis in the human mind; for it was here, and not in a phantom underlying substance,' that Berkeley recognized the 'Reality' of his opponents. The following passage, from a conversation between Sakyamuni and his favourite disciple Ananda, is taken from the 'Surungama Sutra,' and throws clear light upon his teaching:

"Every phenomenon that presents itself to our knowledge is but the manifestation of mind. The entire theory of the causes of production throughout the infinite worlds is simply the result of mind, which is the true substratum of all."

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This is very much like Berkeleyism pure and simple. But there is also an approach to the view of Lotze in his teaching that there must be an underlying objective Reality as well; and this appears almost like a contradiction, until we remember that it is only by the attainment of Perception that we are able to recognize it, thus calling in the mind and making it the subjective basis of the entire Universe as it appears to us. Of course, when he comes to discuss the nature of the underlying Reality he passes out of the sphere of modern metaphysics altogether. The underlying Reality is identical with his own person -is, in fact, the very Buddha himself; that is the true nature of all things, which are thus fundamentally identical with each other, and Truth, the object of every Buddhist's search, is nothing more than the identity of all things, all minds, all beings, and all Buddhas, past, present, and to come.

The idea, we must own, is a little difficult to grasp. Let us seek an amplification of it

in the teaching of one of the most eminent members of the Buddhist Church. He will show us how the Buddha ceases to be either God or man, and is seen to be no more than a state of mind, that highest and purest development of the intellect in which is reflected the Hidden Reality of All Things, which apprehends the Truth, which sees that the Universe and the senses, the perceiver and the perceived, are really and in essence One. It is here that the cleavage between Eastern and Western metaphysics occurs.

There can be no greater mistake than to suppose that Buddhism is a homogeneous system. Its broad divisions into Red Church and Yellow Church, Mahayana and Hinayana, Northern Buddhism and Southern Buddhism, are, of course, familiar to the most superficial student; but overlapping these there are numerous sects, answering very much to the churches and sects of Christendom. Now Buddhism is, and always has been, one of the great missionary religions of the world; and of the various sects into which it is divided,

none is more amply endowed with the missionary spirit than the sect of Nichiren, or Sun Lotus, so called from the name of its founder, a Japanese priest who was born in the year 1222 of our era. And with the name of its founder it has inherited his ardent, indeed, aggressively proselytizing, zeal, having only a short time back put forth a most remarkable manifesto, or profession of faith, addressed to the whole world, in order that all persons now alive might have a chance of salvation. "Indian Buddhism," said Nichiren himself, "came from the West to the East. Japanese Buddhism will go from the East to the West." His followers are attempting to carry out his prediction. A few years ago there died, not far from Tokyo, an estimable and respected prelate, known as the Most Learned and Virtuous Nissatsŭ Arai, Archbishop of Ikegami, who left behind him a 'Digest of the Doctrines of Nichiren,' lately edited and published by the Right Virtuous Kobayashi Nitto, Abbot and President of the Nichiren College at Takanawa. A few extracts from the manifesto in question will suffice to