Again let us cite another example of his doctrine :

Every one of you, my disciples, if you are proud of being my disciples, must not be afraid. Worry not about your parents, family, or households. From eternity to the present day the people who have thrown away their lives for their parents, for their children, or their households, were and are more numerous than the dust on the earth, while no one has died a martyr for the sake of the Truth of the Hokekyo. Although some may have appeared to be practitioners of strong conviction, none the less when they met with persecution, they retrograded and yielded.

Prepare, all ye my disciples! To change our bodies into the Hokekyo is like changing stone into gold or changing excrement into rice.. " (Works, pp. 392–3.) There is still a great deal of material on both sides concerning these problems, which we shall leave undiscussed for the moment, but both great men are in accordance in this respect although the times and countries are different. The comparison which I have made above is, however, meant for those who study Christ or Nichiren, and for students of the science of religion.

VIII

GRATITUDE

RETURNING KINDNESS

SINCE Buddhism was introduced into Japan, the idea of gratitude became one of the most radical views of life of the Japanese Nation. In opposition to the Christian theory of love, Buddhism teaches us that the principle of ruling life consists in the view of gratitude. At any rate, this idea is now almost the pure Japanese thought as the result of exercise and training of the mind throughout ages.

Regarding gratitude there is, in Buddhism, the theory of the Four Gratitudes which are stated in the Shinji-kan-kyo, which are the gratitude of parents, that of the Sovereign, that of society, and that of teaching. According to the Buddhist doctrine, the universe itself is the manifestation of kindness, or grace, or favour. The sun shines. The rain fertilizes the fields. The flowers blossom. Everything is the manifestation of favour. We, human beings, are favoured with this great grace of the universe. We were born from parents. We are living in the land. We are cultivated by the teaching which was revealed by various sages and wise men. Americans wear silk garments which are made in Japan, the train which was invented in England, is now used all over the

world. We live in the house which was built by carpenters. We can buy anything without special labour owing to the manufacturers' and traders' labours. Is not, therefore, everything in the world indeed the expression of favour? If the sun will not shine, all beings must die. If rain will not fall, all beings must die. The universe and human society are composed of the significance of favour. Thus, Buddhism asserts that to learn the significance of favour is wisdom, and to return kindness is virtue.

The condition of love is favouritism. If a person does not love one definite object there is no love. Love is the sentimental expression; accordingly there are naturally differences as to the standard of love, between a person A and a person B. It is possible that A loves C, but B does not love C but D. Setting aside love in a religious sense for a while, love as the practical view of life is selfish. If one likes, then one loves, but if one does not like, one does not love. In short, it depends on one's free will whether to love or not. Such a view cannot possibly be the moral standard. But when love comes from the consciousness of the Way, then love becomes benevolence or love of a religious character. The idea of Grace is the result of the purification of sentimental love with the consciousness of the way.

Ninomiya Sontoku established the doctrine of reciprocating kindness. He was not a Buddhist but acknowledged the necessity of reciprocating kindness and spoke somewhat as follows:

There are many people who do not return kindness in spite of their receiving favour from others. There

F

are many people who do not express their gratitude for favour and virtue received. People who do not know how to reciprocate for virtue received from others, naturally forego happiness because they neglect the foundation while expecting future glory. People who return kindness observe the origin of virtue, postponing future glory, and, consequently, happiness is always with them. Indeed, gratitude is the highest aspect of all deeds and good."

In this opinion there is evidently a fragrance of utilitarianism, nevertheless, he acknowledged the idea of gratitude as the fundamental principle of life. Essentially, the Buddhist doctrine of returning kindness presupposes the doctrine of Mutual Participation, which is constructed through philosophy of one-mindcentric-cosmology. (Ichinen Sanzen.)1

In brief, the universe consists of mutual participation. No one can exist independent of others. By mutual support everything can preserve its existence. Therefore, nothing can exist without having the influence and favour of others. From these metaphysics, the ethics of Gratitude were born. The idea of returning favour is always progressive and creative. It creates value synthetically and universally.

The Buddhist idea of returning Grace does not measure the kindness or favour or grace from the point of view of pleasure, but as the significance of life. What Confucius says in the following words is also a similar expression of this idea.

"Some one said, 'What do you say concerning the principle that injury should be reciprocated with

1 Satomi, The Japanese Civilization, its Significance and Realization, pp. 35-7.

kindness?' The Master said, 'With what then will you recompense kindness? Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.' (Confucius, Analects.)

The characteristics of this idea will be seen more clearly in the following quotation which was written by Nichiren. But it will be more convenient to the reader to give the following explanation beforehand, which is written by myself: 1

'At the beginning of the following year, Nichiren wrote an essay on his impression of his exile and sent it to one of his followers, Lord Kudo. The essay is called On the fourfold Indebtedness. According to this essay, he received two deep impressions of his exile; on the one hand he was extremely glad of the exile as a result of the persecution for the sake of his propagation; and on the other hand he was distressed about the sins of his opponents, who were the cause of his good fortune in becoming the practitioner of the Hokekyo, in consequence of their persecution. In order to become the practitioner of the Hokekyo, he must naturally have such opponents, hence his benevolent sorrow. Moreover, there is written in the essay much more important matter about his confessing his conviction of the prophesied man, though he had not yet said so conclusively.”

Now, my translation of the following extract of Nichiren's essay will show the idea and attitude of Nichiren concerning gratitude :

"I, Nichiren, do not keep the Buddhist commandments, bodily, nor am I delivered from the three

1 Satomi, The Japanese Civilization, its Significance and Realization, pp. 134-6.