=Tara, Maitreya). The same
practice is found in the old Uigur translations. See _Bibl. Buddh._
XII. Tisastvustik. For an interesting account of contemporary Lamaism
in Mongolia see Binstead, "Life in a Khalkha Steppe Monastery,"
_J.R.A.S._ 1914, 847-900.]

CHAPTER LIV

JAPAN

This work as originally planned contained a section on Japanese
Buddhism consisting of three chapters, but after it had been sent to
the publishers I was appointed H.M. Ambassador in Tokyo and I decided
to omit this section. Let not any Japanese suppose that it contained
disparaging criticism of his country or its religions. It would, I
hope, have given no offence to either Buddhists or Shintoists, but an
ambassador had better err on the side of discretion and refrain from
public comments on the institutions of the country to which he is
accredited.

The omission is regrettable in so far as it prevents me from noticing
some of the most interesting and beautiful developments of Buddhism,
but for historical purposes and the investigation of the past the loss
is not great, for Japanese Buddhism throws little light on ancient
India or even on ancient China. It has not influenced other countries.
Its interest lies not in the relics of antiquity which it has
preserved but in the new shape and setting which a race at once
assimilative and inventive has given to old ideas.

Though the doctrine of the Buddha reached Japan from China through
Korea,[1069] Chinese and Japanese Buddhism differ in several respects.
Lamaism never gained a footing in Japan, probably because it was the
religion of the hated Mongols. There was hardly any direct intercourse
with India. Whereas the state religion of China was frequently hostile
to Buddhism, in Japan such relations were generally friendly and from
the seventh century until the Meiji era an arrangement known as
Ryo-bu Shinto or two-fold Shinto was in force, by which
Shinto shrines were with few exceptions handed over to the custody
of Buddhist priests, native deities and historical personages being
declared to be manifestations of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Again, Buddhism in Japan has had a more intimate connection with
social, political and even military matters in various periods than in
China. This is one reason for its chief characteristic, namely,
the large number and distinct character of its sects. They are not
merely schools like the religious divisions of India and China, but
real sects