The Shin sect, which permits the marriage of the priests and
preaches the salvation of woman, probably leads all others in according
honor to her as well as in elevating her social position.
Buddhism, like Roman Catholicism, and as compared to Confucianism which
is protestant and masculine, is feminine in its type. In Japan the place
of the holy Virgin Mary is taken by Kuannon, the goddess of mercy; and
her shrine is one of the most popular of all. Much the same may be said
of Benten, the queen of the heaven and mistress of the seas. The angels
of Buddhism are always feminine, and, as in the unscriptural and pagan
conception of Christian angels, have wings.[58] So also in the legends
of Gautama, in the Buddhist lives of the saints, and in legendary lore
as well as in glyptic and pictorial art, the female being transfigured
in loveliness is a striking figure. Nevertheless, after all is summed up
that can possibly be said in favor of Buddhism, the position it accords
to woman is not only immeasurably beneath that given by Christianity,
but is below that conceded by Shint[=o], which knows not only goddesses
and heroines, but also priestesses and empresses.[59]
According to the popular ethical view as photographed in language,
literature and art, jealousy is always represented by a female demon.
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