Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/198

 prepared a bronze vessel shaped like a lotus-flower, and the worshipper having been laid within the petals of this emblem of paradise, his body was pierced by concealed blades. Such extreme abuses were rare; but in general, despite the rules spoken of above, the priests, corrupted by prosperity, sank into a state of ignorance and self-indulgence during the Tokugawa epoch, violating the austere tenets of their faith and breaking their vows of celibacy. The tests of erudition prescribed by law as a preface to promotion lost all practical value. High office was purchased with money rather than earned by merit. Prayers and ceremonials were sold. If a priest won renown by zeal and devotion, a crowd of sordid followers attached themselves to him, perverting his fame into an instrument of gain. Abbots bought the privilege of calling their temple the repository of some nobleman's mortuary tablet in order that they might blazon his crest on the furniture and curtains of the chancel. Many priests of noble character, profound piety, and wide erudition still upheld the best traditions of the creed, but the general moral level of the Buddhist clergy fell to an exceedingly low point.

It does not appear, however, that these priestly abuses brought popular discredit on the faith. The middle and lower classes remained unshaken in their belief. In almost every household an image of Buddha stood enshrined, and at morn