Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/177

 Having been instructed in the general problems of life and of salvation, and enlightened about the doctrine of Karma, the Zen disciple was taught the duty of confession, because when a man acknowledges his sins he may be said to have put them away from him. Then followed the process of contemplation (zazen), which was the chief characteristic of the sect. Its successful practice demanded a mood like that of the ascetic, who by sheer force of will subjects all his passions and emotions to the unique purpose of entering into the perfection of religious faith. Partly because such mental training helped to educate inflexibility of resolution, essential to a soldier, and partly because, by carrying the disciple entirely beyond himself and his surroundings, it rendered him indifferent to death or danger, the Zen Sect won many followers among the Samurai. This subject, having already been explained in connection with the Bushido, need not be elaborated here, for the interest of the Zen Sect centres on the part it took in developing the Japanese military type.

Thus the colours that Buddhism took in its transmission through the Japanese mind were all bright hues. Death ceased to be a passage to mere non-existence and became the entrance to actual beatitude. The ascetic selfishness of the contemplative disciple was exchanged for a career of active charity. The endless chain of cause and effect was shortened to a single link. The con-