s in the history of Buddhism.
Already controversies about discipline and various minor questions had
called into existence several different schools; but now a breach
occurred, of such magnitude and destined to prove so lasting in its
results, as to often have suggested comparison with the schism between
Western and Eastern Christendom. A council was held under king Kanishka,
which the Ceylon Buddhists refused to recognize; and from that time
Buddhism has been divided into two main branches, known as the _Mahayana_
and _Hinayana_,--the "Greater and Lesser Vehicles." The division thus
brought about became, to a great extent, a geographical one; the Hinayana
having its home in Ceylon, and, somewhat less exclusively, in Burmah and
Siam, while the schools of the Mahayana predominate in Cashmere, Thibet,
China and Japan.

Let us glance, for a moment, at their respective characteristics. The
Hinayana and the Mahayana, then, are the names given to two great systems,
or "schools of thought," which offer to "carry" or "convey" their
followers to the rest of Nirvana.

Of the two, the Hinayana, or Lesser Conveyance, presents a much closer
resemblance to early Buddhism. The distinguishing features of the Hinayana
may be declared to be its adherence to the strict morality of primitive
Buddhism, its greater simplicity of worship, its smaller Canon of
scripture, and the fact that it appeals rather to the comparatively few,
to those, that is to say, who are able and willing to make the surrender
it requires. Whereas, in the Mahayana, or Greater Vehicle, we see a system
characterized by that increased ease and laxity, which too often accompany
a season of repose and the cessation of the enthusiasm that attends the
establishment of a new movement. The chief features of the Mahayana may be
pronounced to be its less exacting standard of practical morality, its
willingness to descend to the level of the multitude, its subtle
metaphysical distinctions, its meditative inactivity, its elaborate
ceremonial, and its more extensive Canon of scripture.

We are now, at last, in a position to examine the history of Japanese
Buddhism. If an apology seems needed for the length of our digression, I
can only say that it appeared to me necessary for any profitable treatment
of our subject. We have already seen how, as early as 250 B.C., China was
visited by Buddhist missionaries from India. These are said to have been
eighteen in number; and their effi