his opinion on another
occasion_): "My father as a Confucian is kind to people negatively. We
want to be kind positively because it is right to be kind. As to
filial obedience, even fathers may err; we are righteous if we are
right. My father is a Shintoist because it is our national custom. He
wants to respect his ancestors in a wide sense and he desires that
Japan, his family and his crops may be protected."

L. "I wish foreigners had a juster idea about 'idols'. There is a
difference between frequenters of the temples believing the figures to
be holy and believing them to be gods. Every morning my mother serves
before her shrine of Buddha but she does not believe our Buddha to be
God. She would not soil or irreverently handle our Buddha, but it is
only holy as a symbol, as an image of a holy being. My mother has said
to me, 'Buddha is our father. He looks after us always; I cannot but
thank him. If there be after life Buddha will lead me to Paradise.
There is no reason to beg a favour.' My mother is composed and
peaceful. All through her life she has met calamities and troubles
serenely. I admire her very much. She is a good example of how
Buddha's influence makes one peaceful and spiritual. But such
religious experience may not be grasped from the outside by
foreigners."

M. "When I am in a temple or at a shrine I realise its value in
concentrating attention. The daily domestic service before the shrine
in the house also ensures some religious life daily. Many of my
countrymen no doubt regard religion as superstition; they know little
of spiritual life. For some of them patriotism or humanitarian
sentiments or eagerness to seek after scientific truth takes the place
of religion. Most men think that they can never comprehend the cosmos
and say, 'We may believe only what we can prove. Let us follow not
after preachers but after truth.' I believe with your Western
philosophers who say that the cosmos is not perfect but that it is
moving towards perfection. Many think that this War shows that the
cosmos is not perfect. Spiritual life is living according to one's
purest consciousness. But what is of first importance is our actions.
It is not enough merely to strive after moral development. One must
strive after economic and social development. Some religious people
think only of the spiritual life and have no sympathy with economics.
The labours of such religious people must be of small value."

In later Chapters the