Part 8 (1/2)
Buddhism has profited by its contact with Christianity. As the reaction of Protestantism upon Catholicism was beneficial to the latter, so the reaction of Christianity upon Buddhism has been healthful It has forced a revival and purification of the Buddhist faith, and to-day it is better and more active than before it encountered Christianity. Still, Christianity is gradually encroaching upon its domain and is crippling its influence. That Buddhism is bound to perish in its encounter with Western civilization and Christianity seems a foregone conclusion.
_Confucianism_
Confucianism is even less deserving the name of a religion than s.h.i.+nto.
It consists chiefly in a set of moral teachings, of narrow application and mostly of a political nature. Confucius, avoiding all metaphysical abstractions and devotional rhapsodies, confined himself to the much more practical field of morals and politics. But his disciples and commentators, especially during the middle ages, expanded his doctrines and added ideas {131} more or less religious. Thus developed, it became a sort of religious system, the only one believed by the old samurai or warrior cla.s.ses.
Confucius, its founder, was born in the year 551 B.C., in the state of Lu, province of Shantung, China. He was an earnest student of the older Chinese cla.s.sics, and one of the most learned men of his time.
He gathered round him a circle of young men, whom he instructed, like Socrates, by questions and answers. He died in 478 B.C. No other human teacher has had more disciples or exerted a wider and stronger influence.
From its birthplace in China Confucianism spread to Korea, where it soon became, and still continues to be, the predominant faith. From Korea it advanced to the j.a.panese archipelago, where for many hundred years it has had much to do with shaping and molding the character of the people. Confucianism has undergone many modifications. At first a comparatively simple system of ethics and politics, it has expanded until to-day it is a complicated philosophico-religious system.
The basal principles of Confucian ethics are the ”five relations.”
These are: sovereign and minister; father and son; husband and wife; elder brother and younger brother; friend and friend. I have named them in the order of their importance. The duty of loyalty is above that of filial {132} obedience, while the relation of husband and wife is inferior to both of these. We will briefly consider each of these relations separately.
The duty of a minister, or servant, to his prince, or sovereign, is the first duty of man, and is emphasized to an extreme degree. In order to discharge this obligation to the feudal lord or emperor, one must, if necessary, give up everything: house, lands, kinsmen, name, fame, wife, children, society--all. And j.a.panese history is filled with instances of retainers who have counted their lives, their families, their all, as less than nothing when compared with their duty to their lord.
Loyalty is the one idea which dominates all others in the Confucianism of j.a.pan. Thus it has exerted an influence hardly second to s.h.i.+nto in inculcating loyalty to the emperor and to j.a.pan, and making the people fanatically patriotic.
The second relation is that of father and son, or parent and child. My readers perhaps would consider the relation of husband and wife the first of all human relations, but not so the Oriental. With him the family is of far more importance than the individual, and the chief aim of marriage is the maintenance of the family line. If the wife becomes a mother she is honored because she a.s.sists in perpetuating the family line; if she is childless she is probably neglected. Where there are no children adoption is the universal practice. {133} The one adopted takes the family name and perpetuates it. No greater misfortune can be conceived than for the house to become extinct.
The relation of parent and child is very different from that to which we are accustomed. Mutual love hardly exists. The parent feels compa.s.sion and love for his child; the child reverences the parent. To speak of a child's love for his father, or a man's love for G.o.d, is repugnant to the Confucianist. It is thought to be taking an undue familiarity, and the proper relation is considered one of dependence and reverence. In old j.a.pan the father was absolute lord and master, and had power over the life and death of his child. In recent times his power is more limited, and the idea is beginning to dawn upon thinking natives that children have rights as well as duties. A j.a.panese child feels more reverence for its parents, or at least for its father, than does the average child reared in the Christian homes of the West.
The third relation is that of husband and wife. On this point the teaching of Confucius is very different from that of Christ. Instead of having two parties bound together by mutual love, with equal rights and duties, we have the relation of superior and inferior, of master and servant. The husband precedes the wife in all things. She must serve him and his family zealously and {134} uncomplainingly. She must be especially on her guard against the foolish sin of jealousy, and is not to complain if her husband introduces a concubine into the same house in which she resides. She is to yield absolute obedience to him in all things. She can be divorced for very slight reasons, and divorces are matters of every-day occurrence. Statistics show that the annual number of divorces is about one third the number of marriages.
Sentiment is gradually changing in this regard, and marriage and divorce laws are becoming more strict.
Confucius condemned adultery as a heinous crime, but this teaching is made to apply only to the wife. She must remain true to her husband, but he is not considered under the same obligation to her.
The fourth relation is that of elder brother and younger brother. This is evident from the language used to express the relation of children of the same household to one another. The word for brother or sister is seldom used; in fact, there is no word to express just that idea.
In its stead we hear ”elder brother,” ”elder sister,” and ”younger brother,” ”younger sister.” The children of a household are not considered equals; the elder ones are given the preference in all things. Especially does the eldest son hold a position of prominence far above that of the other children. {135} He is looked upon as the perpetuator of the family line and is given especial honor. His younger brothers and his sisters, and even his mother, must serve and obey him.
The younger sons are subjects for adoption into other families, especially into those where there are daughters to be married and family names to be perpetuated. This is in accordance with the Eastern idea that the house is of more importance than the individual.
Confucian ethics largely overlooks the idea of personality.
The fifth relation is that between friends. Some writers have spoken of this as that of man to man, and have thus read Christian ideas into Confucianism; but this relation as taught by Confucius is only between friends. As regards man and man, Confucius taught the duties of courtesy and propriety, but no others. He taught the duty of kindness to strangers, but most students of his writings are of the opinion that he did not include foreigners among strangers. The nearest approach to Christianity in Confucianism is the negative of the golden rule, ”Do not do unto others as you would not have others do unto you.” This approaches the teaching of Christ very nearly, but only in a negative form. Some have thought that Confucius taught the duty of returning good for evil, but this is a mistake. One of his contemporaries, Lao-tse, did teach {136} this duty; but when Confucius was asked about it he replied, ”What, then, will you return for good? Recompense _injury with justice_, and return good for good.”
Certain it is that this relation, as understood in j.a.pan, does not apply to foreigners. How the j.a.panese treated foreigners in former times is well known. Foreign sailors s.h.i.+pwrecked on her coasts were tortured and executed. s.h.i.+ps from abroad, bringing s.h.i.+pwrecked j.a.panese back to their own country, were met with powder and ball and repulsed. Commodore Perry, in attempting to establish a treaty with j.a.pan, justly complained to the native authorities that the dictates of humanity had not been followed, that s.h.i.+pwrecked men were treated with useless cruelty, and that j.a.pan's att.i.tude toward her neighbors and all the world was that of an enemy and not of a friend. The fifth relation did not teach a common brotherhood of men and obligations of kindness to foreigners. It applied only to the charmed circle of friends.h.i.+p.
On these five relations rests the whole j.a.panese social and moral structure. Family and national life has been shaped and molded by them. They are the ten commandments of the East. How very different from the principles which have determined our own family and social life!
Confucianism in j.a.pan has been developed into {137} a highly complicated religious system, and in this form is believed by large numbers of high-cla.s.s, educated j.a.panese. It is wholly pantheistic in its teaching, having points of resemblance with German pantheism. It knows no such thing as G.o.d as a separate existence. Rather, all is G.o.d. Dr. Martin, of China, has well styled it ”a pantheistic medley.”
Although Confucianism has long had a strong hold upon j.a.panese minds, its influence is waning. The ancient cla.s.sics are little studied, and the younger generation knows almost nothing of them. The great temple of Confucius in Tokyo, the Seido, has been changed into an educational museum.
_Tenrikyo_
Perhaps some will think that Tenrikyo does not deserve mention along with the before-named great religions. Certainly it is not worthy of the respect accorded to them, and has not exerted such an influence as they have. It is of very recent origin and is as yet confined to the lower strata of society. But its disciples const.i.tute one of the most vigorous and active religious bodies in j.a.pan to-day. Its growth has been remarkably rapid, especially during the past five years.