n possibly say "yes," even when he does not
mean it; while the common people all over the world, as between
metaphysics and polytheism, choose the latter. Is it any wonder that,
along with this propagation of Nihilism as taught in the cloisters and
the court, history informs us of many scandals and much immorality
between the women of the court and the Buddhist monks?

Such dogmas were not able to live in organized forms, after the next
importations of Buddhism which came in, not partly but wholly, under the
name of the Mah[=a]yan[=a] or Great Vehicle, or Northern Buddhism. By
the new philosophy, more concrete and able to appeal more closely to the
average man, these five schools, which, in their discussions, dealt
almost wholly with _noumena_, were absorbed. As matter of fact, none of
them is now in existence, nor can we trace them, speaking broadly,
beyond the tenth century. Here and there, indeed, may be a temple
bearing the name of one of the sects, or grades of doctrine, and
occasionally an eccentric individual who "witnesses" to the old
metaphysics; but these are but fossils or historical relics, and are
generally regarded as such.

Against such baldness of philosophy not only might the cultivated
Japanese intellect revolt and react, but as yet the common people of
Japan, despite the modern priestly boast of the care of the imperial
rulers for what the bonzes still love to call "the people's religion,"
were but slightly touched by the Indian faith.

The Great Vehicle.

The Kegon-Shu or Avatamsaka-sutra sect, is founded on a certain teaching
which Gautama is said to have promulgated in nine assemblies held at
seven different places during the second week of his enlightenment. This
sutra exists in no fewer than six texts, around each of which has
gathered some interesting mythology. The first two tests were held in
memory and not committed to palm leaves; the second pair are secretly
preserved in the dragon palace of Riu-gu[14] under the sea, and are not
kept by the men of this world. The fifth text of 100,000 verses, was
obtained by a Bodhisattva from the palace of the dragon king of the
world under the sea and transmitted to men in India. The sixth is the
abridged text.

It concerns us to notice that the shorter texts were translated into
Chinese in the fourth century, and that later, other translations were
made--36,000 verses of the fifth text, 45,000 verses of the sixth text,
etc. When the doctrine of