path of salvation; above all, to convince the people that one and all of them may become Buddhas, here and now this is the mission of the followers of Nichiren."

A few pages further on the Archbishop gives a quotation from the writings of Nichiren himself.

"The doctrines of our sect stand far above those of the other eight sects. They teach us that we can become Buddhas immediately. If one only sees that the Mind, the Buddha, and all living beings, are one and all embodied in his own thought, and are not to be found elsewhere, he can certainly attain to enlightenment in his earthly life, however low his intellect may be. And if the man of low intellect can do so, how much more a man of higher intellectual status? He, surely, need stand in no doubt about the matter. A fortiori, then, must this be the case with those whose intellects are of the highest order of all. Since the doctrines taught by Sakyamuni all his life long are those which take the nature of a living being as the basis on which they stand, anyone who understands his own nature is called a Buddha, while those who are unable to do so are justly styled the vulgar.'"

The Archbishop then proceeds to comment upon this utterance of the founder's, and in so doing introduces a charming illustration which

will doubtless strike every reader as a Buddhist version of the parable of the Prodigal Son.

"The fact that Nichiren became enlightened proves that even the multitude, in these Last Days of the Great Law, can free themselves from all evils, and reach the self-same goal. Indeed, to attempt to be a Nichiren and a Sakyamuni should be the first motive of all who believe in our doctrines. Man is said by Chinese moralists to be the chief of all living beings in this world, but when a man is engrossed in pursuing his own interests, and cannot live in peace with his neighbours, how can he deserve so high a title? Let us take an illustration: There is one, say, who is entirely ignorant of the Truth. He does not know that in his real nature he is identical with the Buddha of Original Enlightenment, but regards himself as a debased and common person, incapable of instruction —in short, he is such a one as Buddha would call a mendicant. But he was not always thus. He began life as the son of a rich man, to whom he was very dear. Yet he left his good father, and wandered to and fro upon the earth for forty years, during which period his father went to live in a foreign land, so that the prodigal could not rejoin him even when he wanted to, but sank into the direst poverty. But was this poverty, this beggary, his true and original condition? Was it the state proper to a rich man's heir? No; the beggar is but the image of the real man. He is like the Chinese philosopher Chuang-tzů when he

dreamt he was a butterfly. The butterfly had only a temporary and subjective existence in the consciousness of the dreamer; it was not Chuang-tzů himself, but vanished when he awoke. Our wanderer, however, is still asleep; alas! he is still dreaming that he is a beggar."

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"Oh, believers in false doctrines!" exclaims Nichiren, in a passage quoted by the Archbishop in conclusion, "change your beliefs; be converted, and return to the True. You will then find that all the worlds of evils are really the World of Buddha, and the World of Buddha "—that state of mind in which complete enlightenment has been attained-"is not subject to decay; the Land of Jewels"-another name for the same mental condition—" can never disappear. That World is changeless and eternal, the Land imperishable and secure. All enjoy rest and peace, while their minds are lapped in ecstasy."

The book from which the above extracts are taken has been printed in order that it may be sent far and wide over the face of the globe. "The doctrines it sets forth," writes Abbot Kobayashi in the preface, " should not be confined to our own country; they are intended for the enlightenment of all living beings

wherever such may be, in all times and ages, all spheres and realms of life. It is for this reason that the whole world is now given an opportunity of salvation by hearing and embracing the Truth."

[67]

WHAT IS GOD?

THIS seems a strange question to ask about a Personality, or Being, whose existence, in some form or other, is almost universally believed in. Nearly every nation, be it civilized or savage, recognizes some unseen Power, which answers more or less closely to what we understand by Deity. In a large number of cases the Supreme Being is regarded as simply the Highest among a multitude of subordinate gods, as in ancient Egypt, Assyria, Rome, and Greece. In China the ultimate object of worship is simply Heaven -a strictly impersonal power, whose symbol in the Chinese written language is composed of 'One' and Great.' Among the Aryan races the idea of an All Father' has been evolved, the Bright or Shining One; and this appears