isattva
dwells enveloped in consciousness. But when the envelop of
consciousness has been annihilated, then he becomes free of all
fear, beyond the reach of change, enjoying final Nirvana. All
Buddhas of the past, present, and future, after approaching the
Pragna-paramita, have awakened to the highest perfect knowledge.

"Therefore one ought to know the great verse of the
Pragna-paramita, the verse of the great wisdom, the unsurpassed
verse, the peerless verse, which appeases all pain; it is truth
because it is not false; the verse proclaimed in the
Pragna-paramita: 'O wisdom, gone, gone, gone, to the other shore,
landed at the other shore, Shava.'

"Thus ends the heart of the Pragna-paramita."

A study of this condensed and widely read Buddhist Sutra will convince
anyone that the ultimate conceptions of the universe and of the final
reality, are as described above. However popular Buddhism might differ
from this, it would be the belief of the thoughtless masses, to whom
the rational and ethical problems are of no significance or concern,
and who contribute nothing to the development of thought or of the
social order. Those nobler and more earnestly inquiring souls whose
energy and spiritual longing might have been used for the benefit of
the masses, were shunted off on a side track that led only into the
desert of atomistic individualism, abandonment of society, ecstatic
contemplation, and absolute pessimism. The Buddhist theory of the
universe and method of thought denied all intelligible reality, and
necessitated the conclusion that the universe of experience is neither
rational nor ethical. The common beliefs of the unreflective and
uninitiated masses in the ultimate rationality and morality of the
universe were felt to have no foundation either in religion or
philosophy and were accordingly pronounced mere illusions.

XXXV

COMMUNAL AND INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS IN THE EVOLUTION OF JAPANESE
RELIGIOUS LIFE

Our study of Japanese religion and religious life thus far has been
almost, if not exclusively, from the individualistic standpoint. An
adequate statement, however, cannot be made from this standpoint
alone, for religion through its mighty sanctions exerts a powerful
influence on the entire communal life. Indeed, the leading
characteristic of primitive religions is their communal nature. The
science of religion shows how late in human history i