or mercenaries and were a considerable menace to the secular
authority. So serious was the danger felt to be that in the sixteenth
century Nobunaga and Hideyoshi destroyed the great monasteries of
Hieizan and Negoro and the pretensions of the Buddhist Church to
temporal power were brought to an end.

But apart from this political activity, new sects which appeared in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries suited the popular needs of the
time and were a sign of true religious life. Two of these sects, the
Jodo and Shinshu,[1071] are Amidist--that is to say they teach
that the only or at least the best way of winning salvation is to
appeal to the mercy of Amida, who will give his worshippers a place in
his paradise after death. The Jodo is relatively old fashioned, and
does not differ much in practice from the worship of Amida as seen in
China, but the Shinshu has no exact parallel elsewhere. Though it
has not introduced many innovations in theology, its abandonment of
monastic discipline, its progressive and popular spirit and its
conspicuous success make it a distinct and remarkable type. Its
priests marry and eat meat: it has no endowments and relies on
voluntary subscription, yet its temples are among the largest and most
conspicuous in Japan. But the hierarchical spirit is not absent and
since Shinshu priests can marry, there arose the institution of
hereditary abbots who were even more like barons than the celibate
prelates of the older sects.

The Nichiren sect is a purely Japanese growth, without any prototype
in China, and is a protest against Amidism and an attempt to
restore Shaka--the historical Buddha--to his proper position from
which he has been ousted. Nichiren, the founder, is one of the most
picturesque figures of Japanese history. His teaching, which was based
on the Lotus Sutra, was remarkable for its combative spirit and he
himself played a considerable part in the politics of his age. His
followers form one of the most influential and conspicuous sects at
the present day, although not so numerous as the Amidists.

Zen is the Japanese equivalent of Ch'an or Dhyana and is the name
given to the sect founded in China by Bodhidharma. It is said to have
been introduced into Japan in the seventh century, but died out.
Later, under the Hojo Regents, and especially during the
Ashikaga period, it flourished exceedingly. Zen ecclesiastics managed
politics like the French cardinals of the seventeenth century