dispositions.

Buddhist ideas are preached with frank references to matters of love, for sexual love is not
considered to be incompatible with religious matters. Not only has the significance of the human body
been recognized, but also the idea of taking good care of one's body has become prominent in Japanese
Buddhism."101 "Question: The sutra * says one could not be a Bodhisattva102 unless one serves
Buddhas by burning one's own body, elbows, and fingers. What is the meaning? Answer: The burning of
one's body, elbows, and fingers is metaphorically used to mean elimination of the three darknesses of
the branch, the leaf, and the root. . . . If one eliminates these three darknesses, one becomes a
Bodhisattva. . . . If one should try to serve the Buddhas by burning one's sensual body, would any
Buddha receive it?" Here ascetic practices actually followed among the Buddhists both in India and
China were completely denied by the Japanese Buddhists. The Japanese lay special emphasis upon the
love of others. Banzan Kumazawa (1619–1691), a famous Confucianist of the Tokugawa period, calls
Japan "The land of benevolence."103 The love of others in its purified form is named "benevolence"
(Sanskrit, maitri*, karuna*). This idea was introduced into Japan with the advent of Buddhism, and
special emphasis was laid upon it in Japanese Buddhism. Among many sects of Japanese Buddhism, the
Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo* sect), a religion which typically emphasizes benevolence, enjoys great
popularity. The Pure Land Buddhism preaches the benevolence of Amitabha* Buddha who saves the bad
man as well as the ordinary man. Most of the high priests of the sect have especially optimistic outlooks
and benign attitudes. The emphasis upon deeds of benevolence is recognizable also in other sects. The
Japanese accepted the practice of the strict disciplines handed down from early Buddhism in the form of
the "Ritsu sect" (Sanskrit: Vinaya sect). This 8thcentury sect (one of the six Nara sects, it was introduced
into Japan by Chien-chen, a Chinese missionary monk in 754) followed rather a seclusionist method of
monastic rules of ascetic practice. Later, however, with its development into the Shingon-ritsu sect, a
priest named Ninsho* (1217–1303) launched upon such social welfare works as caring for the suffering
and the sick. He dedicated his whole life to the service of others, and was even criticized by his master:
"He overdid benevolence."104 Although it was a breach of the ancient disciplines to dig ponds or wells
or to give medicine and clothing to the sick or to accumulate money for them, Ninsho never let himself
be deterred from doing any of these things.105 Needless to say, the idea of benevolence had an
important significance in Chinese Buddhism. The Zen Buddhism, however, that was developed as the
Chinese people's Buddhism, did not seem to emphasize the idea of benevolence too much. To confirm
this, there is not a single reference Prev