[4] The foreigner may easily misrepresent, even when
sincerely inclined to utter only the truth. Each religion, in its theory
at least, must be judged by its ideals, and not by its failures. Its
truth must be stated by its own professors. In the "History of The
Twelve Japanese Sects," by Bunyiu Nanjio, M.A. Oxon., and in "Le
Bouddhisme Japonais," by Ryauon Fujishima, we have the untrammelled
utterances, of nine living lights of the religion of Shaka as it is held
and taught in Dai Nippon. The former scholar is a master of texts, and
the latter of philosophy, each editor excelling in his own department;
and the two books complement each other in value.
Buddhism, being a logical growth out of Brahmanism, used the old sacred
language of India and inherited its vocabulary. In the Tripitaka, that
is, the three book-baskets or boxes, we have the term for canon of
scripture, in the complete collection of which are _sutra_, _vinaya_ and
_abidharma_. We shall see, also, that while Gautama shut out the gods,
his speculative followers who claimed to be his successors, opened the
doors and allowed them to troop in again. The democracy of the
congregation became a hierarchy and the empty swept and garnished house,
a pantheon.
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