We do not deny that there are not a few who are so wretched that they rejoice in their crimes, nor that there is any person but has more or less stain on his character, nor that the means of committing crimes are multiplied in proportion as modern civilization advances; yet still we believe that our social life is ever breaking down our wolfish disposition that we inherited from our brute ancestors, and education is ever wearing out our cannibalistic nature which we have in common with wild animals.  On the one hand, the signs of social morals are manifest in every direction, such as asylums for orphans, poorhouses, houses of correction, lodgings for the penniless, asylums for the poor, free hospitals, hospitals for domestic animals, societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals, schools for the blind and the dumb, asylums for the insane, and so forth; on the other hand, various discoveries and inventions have been made that may contribute to the social improvement, such as the discovery of the X rays and of radium, the invention of the wireless telegraph and that of the aeroplane and what not.  Furthermore, spiritual wonders such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, telepathy, etc., remind us of the possibilities of further spiritual unfoldment in man which he never dreamed of.  Thus life is growing richer and nobler step by step, and becoming more and more hopeful as we advance in the Way of Buddha.

22.  The Buddha of Mercy.

Milton says: 

“Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt;
Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled. 
But evil on itself shall back recoil,
And mix no more with goodness.  If this fail,
The pillared firmament is rottenness,
And earth’s base built on stubble.”

The world is built on the foundation of morality, which is another name for Universal Spirit, and moral order sustains it.  We human beings, consciously or unconsciously, were, are, and will be at work to bring the world into perfection.  This idea is allegorically expressed in the Buddhist sutra,[FN#177] which details the advent of a merciful Buddha named Maitreya in the remote future.  At that time, it says, there will be no steep hills, no filthy places, no epidemic, no famine, no earthquake, no storm, no war, no revolution, no bloodshed, no cruelty, and no suffering; the roads will be paved smoothly, grass and trees always blooming, birds ever singing, men contented and happy; all sentient beings will worship the Buddha of Mercy, accept His doctrine, and attain to Enlightenment.  This prophecy will be fulfilled, according to the sutra, 5,670,000,000 years after the death of Shakya Muni.  This evidently shows us that the Mahayanist’s aim of life is to bring out man’s inborn light of Buddha-nature to illumine the world, to realize the universal brotherhood of all sentient beings, to attain to Enlightenment, and to enjoy peace and joy to which Universal Spirit leads us.

[FN#177] See Nanjo’s Catalogue, Nos. 204-209.