Page:The Development of Mahayana Buddhism - The Monist 1914.pdf/4

568 History, however, shows us a very different state of affairs among the Mahâyâna followers. Into how many schools did the Mahâyâna divide itself! And how vehemently did each school defend its own doctrine against the others! While the Hinayâna Buddhists evidently kept quiet, the Mahâyâna spoke disparagingly of their rival believers, and this was altogether unworthy of their professed liberalism. In fact, it was through their self-conceit that they came to designate themselves as Mahâyâna Buddhists, followers of the Great Vehicle of Salvation, which had in view the discrediting of their conservative brethren in the faith. This spirit of self-exaltation was exhibited not only against the more orthodox ethical adherents of Buddhism, but also among themselves, as witness the famous founder of the Nichiren or the Pundarîka sect of Buddhism in Japan. His denunciation of the other Buddhist sects then existent in Japan was so strong and abusive that the authorities of the time thought it politic to get rid of him quietly, though I must add that his prosecution was not solely due to religious reasons.

This struggle and fighting, however, was quite in accord with the somewhat one-sided development of the Mahâyâna in the direction of speculative philosophy. Intellect is always inclined to dissent, to quarrel, to become self-conceited. The existence of ten or twelve sects of Japanese Buddhism was the inevitable result of the general movement of the speculative Mahâyâna. Of course, the other phases of Buddhism were not altogether forgotten; for the practice of dhyâna (meditation) is still in evidence,indeed there is one sect in Japan and China bearing its very name and exercising much influence, especially among the educated classes. However this may be, the fact remains that the Mahâyâna is a development of one side: the intellectual, speculative, philosophical side of Buddhism, while the Hînayâna preserves the ethical side of Buddhism