orld. Taoism inculcates physical discipline; but in practice it
has become the mother of degrading superstition--dealing in magic
and necromancy. Buddhism saps the foundations of the family and
enjoins celibacy as the road to virtue. Metempsychosis is its leading
doctrine, and to "think on nothing" its mental discipline. It forbids
a flesh diet and deprecates scholarship. Through imperial patronage
it acquired a footing in China, but it was long before it felt at
home there. As late as the eighth century Han Yu, the greatest
writer of the age, ridiculed the relics of Buddha and called on
his people to "burn their books, close their temples, and make
laity of their monks."

Yet Buddhism seems to have met a want. It has fostered a sympathy
for animal life, and served as a protest against the Sadducean tenets
of the lettered class. It long ago became so rooted in the minds of
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the illiterate, who form nine-tenths of the population, that China
may be truly described as the leading Buddhist country of the globe.[*]

[Footnote *: THE APOTHEOSIS OF MERCY

A LEGEND OF KUANYIN PUSA--IN NORTHERN BUDDHISM

Two images adorn this mountain shrine,
Not marble chiselled out by Grecian art,
But carved from wood with Oriental skill.
In days of yore adored by pilgrim throngs,
They languish now without a worshipper.

High up a winding flight of stony steps
See Gautama upon his lotus throne!
More near the gate, her lovely face downcast,
Sits Mercy's Goddess, pity in her eye,
To greet the weary climbers and to hear
Their many-coloured tales of woe and want.

The Buddha, in sublime repose, sees not
His prostrate worshippers; and they to him
No prayer address, save hymns of grateful praise.[1]
'Twas he who for a blinded world sought out
The secret of escape from misery;
The splendour of a royal court resigned,
He found in poverty a higher realm!
Yet greater far the victory, when he broke
The chain of Fate and spurned the wheel of change.
To suffering humanity he says,
"Tread in my steps: You, too, may find release."

[Footnote 1: Such as _Om mani padmi hum_ ("O the jewel in the lotus")]

Like him, the Pusa was of princely birth,
But not like him did she forsake a throne,
Nor yet like him did she consent to see
Nirvana's pearly gates behind her close.
A field for charity her regal state.
Her path with ever-blooming flowers she strewed,
Her sympathy to joy a r