u art
Lord of all the universe. Thou art under the proper form of
all things, movable and immovable, the possessor of the whole,
and thus I adore thee. I adore thee, who art celebrated by a
thousand names, and under various forms; in the shape of
Buddha, the god of mercy."[371:3]

The inhabitants of _China_ and _Japan_, the majority of whom are
Buddhists, worship God in the form of a Trinity. Their name for him
(Buddha) is Fo, and in speaking of the Trinity they say: "The three
pure, precious or honorable Fo."[372:1] This triad is represented in
their temples by images similar to those found in the pagodas of India,
and when they speak of God they say: "_Fo is one person, but has three
forms._"[372:2]

In a chapel belonging to the monastery of Poo-ta-la, which was found in
Manchow-Tartary, was to be seen representations of Fo, in the form of
three persons.[372:3]

Navarette, in his account of China, says:

"This sect (of Fo) has another idol they call _Sanpao_. It
consists of _three_, equal in all respects. This, which has
been represented as an image of the Most Blessed Trinity, is
exactly the same with that which is on the high altar of the
monastery of the Trinitarians at Madrid. If any Chinese
whatsoever saw it, he would say that _Sanpao_ of his country
was worshiped in these parts."

And Mr. Faber, in his "Origin of Heathen Idolatry," says:

"Among the Chinese, who worship Buddha under the name of _Fo_,
we find this God mysteriously multiplied into _three
persons_."

The mystic syllable O. M. or A. U. M. is also reverenced by the Chinese
and Japanese,[372:4] as we have found it reverenced by the inhabitants
of India.

The followers of Laou-tsze, or Laou-keum-tsze--a celebrated philosopher
of China, and deified hero, born 604 B. C.--known as the Taou sect, are
also worshipers of a Trinity.[372:5] It was the leading feature in
Laou-keun's system of philosophical theology, that Taou, the eternal
reason, produced _one_; one produced _two_; two produced _three_; and
three produced all things.[372:6] This was a sentence which Laou-keun
continually repeated, and which Mr. Maurice considers, "a most singular
axiom for a _heathen_ philosopher."[372:7]

The sacred volumes of the Chinese state that:

"The Source and Root of all is _One_. This self-existent unity
necessarily produced a _second_. The first and second, by
the