LETTER LIII

Summary

Of the many sects and sub-sects into which Buddhism is divided, none interests me so much as the Shinshiu, sometimes called the Monto Sect, founded by Shinran in 1262. Protesting against celibacy, penance, fasting, pilgrimages, nunneries, monasteries, cloistered and hermit isolation from society, charms, amulets, and the reading of the Scriptures in an unknown tongue, claiming freedom of thought and action, and emancipation from Shintô, traditional, and State influence, and holding that the family is the source and example of purity, Shinran married a noble lady of Kiyôto, and founded a married priesthood. If the Monto is not the largest sect, it stands first in intelligence, influence, and wealth, it is putting forth immense energies, and has organised theological schools on a foreign system, in which its acolytes are being trained in Buddhist and Western learning for the purpose of enabling them not only to resist or assail both Shintô and Christianity, but the corruptions of the Buddhist faith. At this hour new college buildings are arising in Kiyôto to be splendidly equipped for teaching purposes, and the plan is to send certain of the young priests to England to learn Sanskrit, and to fortify themselves with arguments against Christianity; and it is not in Kiyôto alone that this vigorous sect is training a priesthood to meet the needs of the day.

Foremost in this movement, which has for its object a new reformation, and the re-establishment of Buddhism as a moral power in Japan, is Akamatz, a priest of great intellect, high culture, indomitable energy, wide popularity, and far-reaching ambitions for the future of his faith.