elucidate the metaphysical theories on which the system rests.

"The original doctrine of the Holy Book of the Lotus of the Good Law is twofold," writes the Archbishop. "In the first place it teaches that the visible, inhabited world, which is changeable and destructible, is but the external appearance of an underlying eternal Reality; in the second place, it teaches the original enlightenment of all living beings.

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"And now, what is this 'Good Law' so called? Well, it is simply that collection of doctrines found in the 'original' part of the book referred to. The Holy Book, it must be understood, consists of two parts: the 'original' or 'fundamental,' and the 'subordinate,' respectively. The former treats of the Original Buddha and the original reality of all living beings, while the latter deals with the Subordinate Buddha and the derived or temporary condition of all living beings. Thus, the Buddha is conceived of under a twofold. aspect one, as originally or self enlightened, the other as having attained enlightenment only after study and meditation. Again, the real state of living beings connotes the reality of things as perceived by the Buddha intellect—that is, their natural and true

* The 'Saddharma pundarika Sutra.'

condition. Now, the real state of visible things is one of emptiness and relativity. All phenomena, mental and material, in all times and spaces, are to be conceived of as existing subjectively in the consciousness of every individual, as his own physical and mental states, and thus only; so that the differences and varieties which distinguish things from one another must be regarded as purely imaginary and misleading, without any foundation in fact. Grasp this, and you have the Truth, and everything will then appear to you as it is in reality; you will see it as it is in itself.

"This Truth is to be found everywhere and always —in the past, the present, and the future; it exists in every part of space, above and below, to the right and to the left, in front and behind. Look up there are the sun, the moon, and millions of stars; look downthere are mountains, rivers, plants, trees, and minerals; and between these there are human beings, animals, birds, reptiles, and insects. Well, all these things are nothing but subjective phases in the consciousness of each man's individual Self. They are all contained in a single act of thought; in fact, there is no distinction between the individual Self and the whole external world. When once this Truth is apprehended, we are said to have attained to the Great Self-that is, the summit of all enlightenment. This attainment is referred to in the words of Buddha as found in the Holy Book: 'I have been the Buddha of Original Enlightenment from all eternity.'

"This discovery was made by Sakyamuni when he was thirty years of age. It was after his perception. of the Truth that Sakyamuni was called the Subordinate Buddha; while, as the Buddha of Original Enlightenment, i.e., as the Personification of Truth, he is called the Original Buddha. Then, desiring to teach the people that any one of them could likewise become a Buddha, he advanced the doctrines contained in a sacred work called the 'Kegon Kyo.'* But they were very slow to understand; their intelligence, in fact, was insufficient to grasp so great a truth; so he was obliged to confine his instructions for more than forty years to the Disciplines, the practice of which was necessary as a preparation for the reception of the higher doctrines. It was only when he was seventy years old that he was able to revert to his former project. Then he taught what will be found in the first chapter of the Holy Book: 'It is only Buddhas, i.e., enlightened ones, who can, with me, investigate the reality of things.' This refers to the doctrine that all things in all times and all depart ments of space are, in essence, fundamentally identical with the Buddha. . . . All things and phenomena,, being essentially identical with the Buddha, or Reality, are eternal and unchangeable au fond, and, in their true nature, one and the same as each other. The vulgar see variety where Buddhas perceive identity. This inability to see anything beneath the external

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* The Buddhavatamsaka-mahavaipulya Sutra.'

variety of things arises from confusion in the minds of those who look at them. Things in themselves are not mutually different. It is the identity perceived by Buddhas that is the real state of things-the very Truth itself.

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"To imagine, therefore, that the man Sakyamuni, of whom we are told that he stood sixteen feet high and possessed the thirty-two glorious features,"'* was the True Buddha, is entirely false and illusive. So thought of, Sakyamuni, so far from being the True Buddha, is no more than a phantasm, an image, a delusion. What, then, is the True Buddha? The True Buddha is that Sakyamuni who has been from immemorial times sufficiently enlightened to know the underlying sameness of all things, and the identity of his own person with the external world; he is that Buddha who identifies a pure act of thought with all existences in time and space; he is that state of mind in which the Truth and the intellect, the perceiver and the perceived, cease to be two, and are recognized as radically and in essence One. And if this is the case with Sakyamuni, it cannot be otherwise with the people generally. Just as all things in time and space are no more than subjective edwλa in the consciousness of Sakyamuni, so are they in the consciousness of each individual man. Just as Sakyamuni regards all

* Or marks of a Grand Being. See Alabaster's 'Wheel of the Law.'

living beings as his own offspring, so may each individual man do likewise. The Buddha and the people are, in fact, one and the same; there is neither difference nor distinction between them. In the 'Kegon Kyo' it is said that the Mind, the Buddha, and the people are not different from each other, though they have different names and different appearances.

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"This world, so full of evils as to appear like a fiery furnace in the eyes of the vulgar, is perceived by the Buddha to be a peaceful and happy realm inhabited by beings of high spiritual order. What is the truth of it? Is the world pure and full of pleasures, or foul and full of pains? The solution will be this or that according to the enlightenment or confusion of each individual mind. The world seen by the Buddha and the world seen by the multitude are not two, but one. When enlightenment is reached, all worlds are seen to be equally glorious and splendid. The first and greatest mission of Sakyamuni in this world is to help the multitude to unfold and develop their Buddhaintellect, and cleanse and purify their nature. When they are once able to unfold this Buddha-intellect of theirs, they will perceive the real nature of this 'world of evils,' that is, the glory of that eternal Reality which underlies the world of outward sense. Hence to proclaim the identity of the evil or phenomenal world with the glorious underlying Reality or noumenon; to point out the way to Buddhahood; to open the