is contained in a book called
Taishiden Hochu, where, in reply to a query from his father, Yomei,
who professed inability to believe foreign doctrines at variance with
those handed down from the age of the Kami, Prince Shotoku is
recorded to have replied:

"Your Majesty has considered only one aspect of the matter. I am
young and ignorant, but I have carefully studied the teachings of
Confucius and the doctrine of the Kami. I find that there is a plain
distinction. Shinto, since its roots spring from the Kami, came into
existence simultaneously with the heaven and the earth, and thus
expounds the origin of human beings. Confucianism, being a system of
moral principles, is coeval with the people and deals with the middle
stage of humanity. Buddhism, the fruit of principles, arose when the
human intellect matured. It explains the last stage of man. To like
or dislike Buddhism without any reason is simply an individual
prejudice. Heaven commands us to obey reason. The individual cannot
contend against heaven. Recognizing that impossibility, nevertheless
to rely on the individual is not the act of a wise man or an
intelligent. Whether the Emperor desire to encourage this creed is a
matter within his own will. Should he desire to reject it, let him do
so; it will arise one generation later. Should he desire to adopt it,
let him do so; it will arise one generation earlier. A generation is
as one moment in heaven's eyes. Heaven is eternal. The Emperor's
reign is limited to a generation; heaven is boundless and
illimitable. How can the Emperor struggle against heaven? How can
heaven be concerned about a loss of time?"

The eminent modern Japanese historiographer, Dr. Ariga, is disposed
to regard the above as the composition of some one of later date than
the illustrious Shotoku, but he considers that it rightly represents
the relation assigned to the three doctrines by the Japanese of the
sixth and seventh centuries. "Shinto teaches about the origin of the
country but does not deal with the present or the future.
Confucianism discusses the present and has no concern with the past
or the future. Buddhism, alone, preaches about the future. That life
ends with the present cannot be believed by all. Many men think of
the future, and it was therefore inevitable that many should embrace
Buddhism."

But at the moment when the memorial of King Myong was presented to
the Emperor Kimmei, the latter was unprepared to make a definite