INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

...the Cross for their redemption, and then rose again to take his seat at his Father’s right hand. Christianity may be said to fulfill, rather than to destroy, these hopes found in the Mahayana Gospel the author refers to the central scriptures of Northern Buddhism as a "Gospel" to highlight parallels with Christian teachings.

(7). The Christian is taught to view God through Christ as his Judge. The sense of personal responsibility created and sustained in the individual Christian by the realization of this doctrine is one of the primary motivations for living a holy life. There are other motivations, certainly, but this is—and ought to be—one of the strongest.

In Buddhism, there is no Judge and no Judgment in the personal sense. However, the great law of Retribution—according to which each person is placed in this life based on the deeds of a previous existence, and will be placed in their next life according to the good or bad actions of the present—is, in a sense, a judgment of the individual soul.

The Law of Karma the principle of cause and effect where actions in this or previous lives determine one's destiny is a noble concept and provides a reasonable explanation for the inequalities of human life. It suffers, however, from two great disadvantages. First, it is impossible to prove, seeing that all memory of the past is erased. Second, it sometimes acts as a palliative a way to ease or excuse for crime and error. A man may excuse himself for his sin by saying that he cannot help the Karma with which he was born, or he may passively accept undeserved misfortune for the same reason. Buddhism has always been a massive system of passive acceptance. It has never protested or fought against the great social evils of the world; at best, it has taught men how to flee from them. The current regeneration of Japan is not due to Buddhist influences as much as to the Bushido the "way of the warrior," a code of moral principles followed by the samurai class of the samurai, who were often Buddhists in name only. Furthermore, the Buddhist revival of the present day is largely due to the example and teaching of Christianity.

(8). Buddhism has this much in common with Christianity: it recognizes that religion must be universal and must appeal to all people everywhere. There is nothing local or national about religion properly so-called. In this sense, Buddhism has always realized a “catholic” original: "catholic" used here in its literal sense of "universal" or "all-encompassing" ideal.