Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/197

 The sect to which a man belonged, the regularity of his visits to a place of worship, the amount of his contributions for religious purposes, his observance of periodical rites, his habits as to keeping an image of Buddha in his house and praying before it morning and evening, — concerning all these things the priests were expected to furnish information, and they thus acquired a distinctly official status in the eyes of the nation. Otherwise, however, the State exercised little control, the priesthood retaining competence to elect their own prelates, enforce their own canons, and administer their own affairs. Only when propagandism was associated with grossly mischievous practices did the law interfere. Thus, at the close of the eighteenth century, a branch of the Spirit Sect fell under the displeasure of the authorities for constructing an edifice where long fasting and prayers, supposed to be rewarded by a personal manifestation of the Buddha, were carried to such fanatical excess that several people lost their reason and even their lives. Another strange abuse occurred, about the same time, at a temple in Yamato, where the priests claimed power to procure for the faithful a painless admission to Nirvana. They made good their promise by placing the victim in a coffin and killing him with spear-thrusts delivered secretly from beneath during a loud clamour of chaunting and prayer. This tragedy ultimately assumed a more refined form. In lieu of a coffin the priests