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Among these was the Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light,[1]

who had made a wondrous vow in virtue of which a blessed future of

righteousness and joy in the Western Paradise was secured for all who

put their trust in him.  Carried into China, this devotion acquired

great popularity, and centuries later it passed into Japan.  There,

while Europe was sending its warriors to win back from the Crescent the

city of the Cross, while Bernard and Francis and Dominic were awakening

new enthusiasm for the monastic {17} life, two famous teachers, Honen

(1133-1212) and Shin-ran (1173-1262), developed the doctrine of

"salvation by faith."  Honen was the only son of a military chief who

died of a wound inflicted by an enemy.  On his deathbed he enjoined the

boy never to seek revenge, and bade him become a monk for the spiritual

enlightenment both of his father and his father's foe.  So the lad

passed in due time into one of the great Buddhist monasteries on mount

Hiei.  Long years of laborious study followed, till in 1175 he reached

the conviction that faith in Amida[2] was the true way of salvation.  A

deep sense of human sinfulness and the belief in an All-Merciful

Deliverer were the essential elements of his religion.  Three emperors

became his pupils, and his life, compiled by imperial order after his

death, resembles that of a mediaeval Christian saint.  Visions of Amida

and of the holy teachers of the past were vouchsafed to him.  He

preached--like another St. Francis--to the serpents and the birds.  His

person was mysteriously transfigured, and a wondrous light filled his

dwelling.

[1] Also called Amitayus, the Buddha of Boundless Life.

[2] The Japanese form of the Sanskrit Amitabha.

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