They
were manifestations to the Japanese, before Gautama had become the
enlightened one, or the jewel in the lotus, and before the holy wheel of
the law or the sacred shastras and sutras had reached the island empire.
Further more, provision was made for the future gods and deified holy
ones, who were to proceed from the loins of the Mikado, or other
Japanese fathers, according to the saying of Buddha which is thus
recorded in a Japanese popular work:
"Life has a limited span, and naught may avail to extend it.
This is manifested by the impermanence of human beings, but yet,
whenever necessary, I will hereafter make my appearance from
time to time as a god (Kami), a sage (Confucian teacher), or a
Buddha (Hotoke)."[21]
In a word, the Shint[=o] goddess talked as orthodox (Yoga) Buddhism as
the ancient characters of the Indian, Persian and pre-Islam-Arabic
stories in the Arabian Nights now talk the purest Mohammedanism.[22]
According to the words put into Gautama's mouth at the time of his
death, the Buddha was already to reappear in the particular form and in
all the forms, acceptable to Shint[=o]ists, Confucianists, or Buddhists
of whatever sect.
Descending from the shrine of vision and revelation, with a complete
scheme of reconciliation, with correlated catalogues of Shint[=o] and
Buddhist gods, with liturgies, with lists of old popular festivals newly
named, with the apparatus of art to captivate the senses, K[=o]b[=o]
forthwith baptized each native Shint[=o] deity with a new
Chinese-Buddhistic name.
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