Toward the end of
the particular sutra which he advised her to read and recite, Buddha
says: "Let not one's voice cease, but ten times complete the thought,
and repeat the formula, of the adoration of Amida." "This practice,"
adds the Japanese exegete and historian, "is the most excellent of all."
How well this latter teaching is practised may be demonstrated when one
goes into a Buddhist temple of the J[=o]-d[=o] sect in Japan, and hears
the constant refrain,--murmured by the score or more of listeners to the
sermon, or swelling like the roar of the ocean's waves, on festival
days, when thousands sit on the mats beneath the fretted roof to enjoy
the exposition of doctrine--"Namu Amida Butsu"--"Glory to the Eternal
Buddha!"[3]
The apostolical succession or transmission through the patriarchs and
apostles of India and China, is well known and clearly stated, withal
duly accredited and embellished with signs and wonders, in the
historical literature of the J[=o]-d[=o] sect. In Buddhism, as in
Christianity, the questions relating to True Churchism, High Churchism,
the succession of the apostles, teachers and rulers, and the validity of
this or that method of ordination, form a large part of the literature
of controversy.
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