The Old Man replied:—The good are happy and the wicked miserable. This is the certainly determined and just law. But happiness and misery are not thus fore-ordained. They depend on circumstances. The Sages speak of the true law and not of the undetermined circumstances. If we would live long we abstain from drink and lust that the body may be strong. If in service we seek promotion we are diligent in duty. But some men who are careful of their health die young and some careless men live long. Yet surely, care is not in vain! So too some diligent men through misfortune gain no promotion and negligent men by chance have been advanced. Yet surely, diligence is not in vain! Were we to think care of the body useless we should spend days and nights in drinking and lust until at last we should be diseased and die. And were we to think diligence in vain we so frequently should neglect our duty that punishment and degradation would be ours. Care of the body is the "way" of long life, as is diligence of promotion. These laws are unchangeable. Again consider! When we make plans, do we leave all to chance or determine first the principles of our action? Of course the latter, and then we do not repent even though we are unfortunate. We cannot arrange for chance. But to leave all to chance and fail, that leads to repentance. Sin is the source of pain and righteousness of happiness. This is the settled law. The teaching of the Sages and the conduct of superior men is determined by principles and the result is left to Heaven. Still, we do not obey in the hope of happiness, nor do we forbear to sin from fear. Not with this meaning did Confucius and Mencius teach that happiness is in virtue and pain in sin. But the "Way" is the law of man. It is said: "The 'Way' of Heaven blesses virtue and curses sin." That is intended for the ignorant multitude. Yet it is not like the Buddhist hōben, for it is the determined truth.

THE VICTORY OF HEAVEN AND MAN.

   Again he said;—When men are many they win from Heaven, but when Heaven decrees it wins. It is a famous saying: Heaven always wins, evil cannot contend with right. Men, when many and strong, may succeed for a time, yet only for a time while Heaven is undecided; afterwards it wins. Heaven is forever and is not to be understood at once, like the promises of men. Short-sighted men consider its ways and decide that there is no reward for vice or virtue. So they doubt when the good are virtuous and fear not when the wicked sin. They do not know that there is no victory against Heaven when it decrees.

   Gankai died young. Tōseki lived long, for Heaven's decree was not yet formed. But now as we study the decree: Gankai indeed lived poverty-stricken and in obscurity, but his name lasts thousands of years with the sun and moon. Tōseki had a thousand followers and walked in pride but when he died his name perished before his body was cold; while his shame lasts an hundred generations, memorial of many evil deeds. Was then Gankai's reward from Heaven small, and Tōseki's great?

   And seldom is the award so late; generally it is at once. Sometimes it is delayed awhile and yet is received in person. Nowadays in Japan are many evil officials; some are punished soon, some after a delay; some are detected at once, some only by and by and some not until after death. For the collection and disbursement of taxes in town and province goes on unceasingly and a deficit is not perceived. So the wicked man is wise in his own interest and, by many devices, appropriates the property of the government to his own use that he may live in luxury and ease. While still undiscovered he congratulates himself upon his cleverness. And when others are detected he puts it to their want of skill, and grows in pride instead of being warned. But surely his evil wisdom makes some mistake. He overlooks something

which reveals his wickedness, and cleverness and devices avail not when he is examined and every item studied. For a time he was free, but soon or late there is no escape.

   Since thus something may be taken from the great stores of the government and the loss be not perceived at once, still more from Heaven whose treasures, lands and seas and men by millions, are very great. Evil and good mingle in vast numbers and awards cannot be made at once. It is not wonderful that bad men tread the dangerous evil way in search of gain. But Heaven too has its time for settling its accounts. Then the most clever accountant cannot rival the exactness of its perception; and its awards, mild and bitter, heavy and light are without the least mistake. In China and Japan many strong men have prided themselves on courage, wisdom and plots, and, Heaven being still undetermined, have thought it could be moved by man's power. For a while as they strive with great and evil powers they seem to gain their ends, but Heaven soon decrees and body and house are lost. Many such instances there are, of old and now. To think that man may win from Heaven is the source of evil. For bad men see temporary gain and rejoice with shallow wisdom. But true men see and greatly fear the evil that is invisible. As the Book of Poetry says,—"Fear the will of Heaven. Obey according to the times." Truly ever fear and cherish it.

THE FLEETING, DREAM-LIKE WORLD.

   One of the students who had been a Buddhist but now studied philosophy with the Old Man, said one day to another student;—The Old Man teaches me the exalted truth of Confucius, but Buddhism too has truth not to be cast aside. Scholars are entangled by the world and deceived by reality and seek fame and gain. So they die without seeing the truth. Buddhism knows the world's a dream, a vision,

and though it is heresy still it leads many to the truth as it teaches the true nature of the Buddha. Good and evil are twisted together like the strands of a rope. Joy and sorrow stand ever at the gate waiting to enter. The fleeting world is like a dream; how shall we find satisfaction in it? To see that it is a dream is to find the beginning of the "Way."

   The Old Man replied;—There is reason in what you say, and therefore many famous samurai have forsaken philosophy for Buddhidm. They are like the guest who ate too much at a feast and went home in agony, holding his big belly with his hands. He met an empty bellied beggar seeking food and cried out: Oh! If I were only like that man! Then I should not suffer so. Such are the scholars who, surfeited with the world and offended with philosophy, turn to the teaching of the priests. They know not that the land of rest is in our teaching.

deny both reason and things, the three relations and the five laws, and our own heart, what shall be the true heart? These heretics even must make our wonderful consciousness to be the true nature of Buddha.

learn the lesson best from the short-lived flower. The pine's heart is not of a thousand years nor the morning-glory's of an hour, but only that they may fulfil their destiny.

   The glory of the thousand years, the evanescence of the single hour are not in pine or flower but in our thought. So is it with unfeeling things, but man has feeling and is the head of all. Yet is he deceived by things and does not attain to this unless he knows the "Way." To know the "Way" is not the mystic contemplation of which Buddhism speaks. The "Way" is so adjusted to all things that even miserable men and women may know and do it. And only as we truly know it can we truly do it. Otherwise even with practice we do not know, and even in doing it we find no profit. Though we are in the "Way" until death we do not understand. Truly to know and act is to be like fish in water and bird in forest.

   Reason should be our life. Never should we separate from it. While we live we obey, and "Way" and body together come to death. Long shall we be at peace. To live a day is to obey a day, and then to die: to live a year is to obey a year and then to die. If thus in the morning we hear and die at night there is no regret. So the morning-glory lives a day, blooms wholly as it had received, and without resentment dies. How greatly differ the thousand years of the pine in length, yet both fulfil their destiny and both are equally content. Thus, "The morning-glory of an hour, Differs not in heart from the pine of a thousand years." As Matsunaga shows his aspirations in his verse so I in imitation; "By the truth received from Heaven and Earth, The morning-glory blooms and fades."

   "Regret not what you see: Decay and bloom alike are morning-glory's truth."

   "Hurting not, lusting not, This is the morning-glory's heart, Not different from the pine's."

   The verses are wretched as you see. But never mind their form, take their truth.

THE EYELASH MYSTERY.

   Said the students;—When we read we see only the surface and do not know how to apply the lesson to the world, but you find profound reason in everything. We do not understand that which is close at hand, it is as secret as the eyelashes.

wet en route he hung his robe in the sun to dry. The daimyō returning from the chase saw the robe and said, "Red fades in the sun, take it inside." But in the house of another great noble was an officer who gave ten gold ryō for the ornaments of his armour and remarked: "Weapons of war are most precious and from this expenditure my son and grandson will know my meaning." A third daimyō was thought especially wise. The son of his karō was fond of medicine cases and wore one, three coral heads ornamenting the string. His lord remarked to him:—"I see you are fond of medicine cases; here is one that preserves the strength of the medicine for ever. Wear it," and gave him one whose beads were nuts. So all the officials renounced extravagance.

   All this was sixty or seventy years ago but now everywhere is extravagance. We may well spend money on our weapons but luxury must be reproved. In the Ōsaka war great nobles and knights had only the simplest weapons and armour, while their houses and possessions were ruder still. Extravagance unrepressed destroys the empire. Its origin is selfishness, looking above and not knowing self. This is what Ieyasu meant. This disease, extravagance, is not merely individual and personal. It affects high and low. It leads generals to overestimate their own powers and despise their adversaries. So they lose the empire and themselves, like Nobunaga and many another in China and Japan. But Ieyasu did not become extravagant. He knew himself. Success did not make him proud, and so at last he ruled the empire. His syllables five and seven have profound meaning everywhere.

BENEVOLENCE THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.

   One day, after study was ended, the talk was of benevolence and righteousness, and one of the company remarked: The heart of Heaven and Earth becomes man's heart.

Heaven's heart is to produce all things, and as this becomes the heart of man, love to his fellows will be the virtue of his heart. So is it that benevolence, the principle of love, is the virtue of the heart. And with this virtue are all the others, for they are included in it and come from it. This have I learned from you. Benevolence means the heart which loves mankind and is chief of the virtues. Many teachers give the chief place to compassion, and if enough meaning is read into it we may agree; but this teaching that benevolence is the virtue of the heart is not that ordinary shallow commonplace. Why is it that righteousness, propriety and truth are destroyed when there is no benevolence, even though compassion be made the virtue of the heart? Talk to us awhile of this. And the Old Man replied:

   Thus are benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom all of the virtue of the heart. They are separate laws and yet all of this one origin, benevolence. Without it men may have indeed a virtuous appearance and activity, but they come not from the heart and are not true virtue or true law. For benevolence is the essence of virtue and the law of love.

   Bravery even comes from benevolence and is of the pitying heart. War seems a violent "way," taking and killing, and compared with benevolence like black compared with white. Yet only when benevolence is its foundation is the warrior's bravery true courage. Only as chivalry, and letters too, and all spring from the heart and combine with benevolence are they true. With such a heart, even if we purpose not to aid our neighbors, still aid them we must and shall.

RIGHTEOUSNESS THE EDGE OF THE HEART.

   Another of those present spoke:—We now fully understand that benevolence is the virtue of the heart, the law of love, and that in its perfection all virtues are included. But righteousness is singled out and put with it. Explain, please, this righteousness. So the Old Man replied:

   Our lusts hurt the heart and are the enemies of benevolence and righteousness. Even those who are benevolent and know pity, whose nature is tender, become hard and lose their communion with Heaven when they are led by evil wisdom and by external things. Lusts daily increase like the insects which devour trees, and when the vital spirit dies the great tree is dead. As the edge of the heart is dulled, alas! righteousness disappears. Rust makes valueless the best cutting sword as the edge is dulled. So is it that the Confucian philosophy magnifies benevolence and teaches that self-conquest is essential to its attainment.

THE BROAD SPIRIT.

   So wrote I forty years since. Those to whom I wrote are now of the long ago.

   Deeply moved was the old man as he spake these words.

THE PEOPLE, THE HEAVEN OF THE KING.

   Once at the end of his exposition of the tenth book of the Analects, "He bowed to those who bore the tables of the census," the Old Man asked his guests: What is the meaning of the phrase, "The people are the Heaven of the king and food is the Heaven of the People"?

   The people, replied one, are the foundation of the State; when they are obedient the State remains, but when they rebel it is destroyed. As its preservation and destruction are of the people the king must honour them as Heaven. And the people honour their food as Heaven, for it is their life and without it they die.

   You have explained correctly the meanings, continued the Old Man, as both honouring agriculture. When Heaven begets men it brings forth grain for their food. If there are men there is grain and if there is grain there are men; if there is no grain there are no men. Nothing excels food. The farmers produce it and are entrusted by Heaven to the king who must honour them as he honours Heaven itself. Not one farmer may be abused. For this reason the census was received of old with honour by the king, and Confucius bowed when he met those who bore it. The people are to remember that they are entrusted with the production of this precious gift of Heaven and are to honour it as Heaven itself. They must not be idle, for their industry determines the land's prosperity.

   In the days of the Sage kings all this was heeded. Taxes were light and when the crops failed there was such aid that the people were not scattered abroad. They lived at home without anxiety and gave their produce to the king

inner qualities were great. They loved labour and were loyal and sympathetic. But after their time the samurai with their hereditary pensions knew nothing of hardship in the times of peace. They desire drink and pleasure and know not its poison. Extravagant and vain and profligate, no wonder we are in such condition. Still worse are the money-getters and the givers of great entertainments. And the evil goes into the provinces. There remains even now something of the ancient customs, differing from the great towns. But the people are foolish and profligate, and some commit great crimes. Foolish and angry in their misery, some even rise against the Government. Still they are not cheats like the townfolk. They are naturally honest, simple, easily moved by blessings, quick to follow reason and satisfied with their daily food. When the officials remember the heart which makes the people Heaven, and modify the taxes according to circumstances and so treat the people that they may nourish parents and children without fear of death from cold and hunger, then the people are in peace. When the laws are made known showing the punishments for crime, forbidding extravagance, reproving the idle and dissolute, then the people admire and obey. As they become good their virtue passes to the towns. The townfolk are not the tenth of the countrymen; yet town fashions permeate the provinces. Were the conntrymen content and prosperous, still more readily then would their fashions go throughout the empire conquering extravagance and evil. Without doubt extravagance would give way gradually to frugality.

THE SKIRT OF FUJI.

   Of old it was said: "When the people are discontented they think of insurrection," so important is their peace to the empire. In the days of Ieyasu a certain samurai who loved philosophy was sent on a tour of inspection. Before starting he asked his teacher for advice and was told, "You will travel around the skirt of Fuji, study the plain on

THE EMPIRE'S TREASURE.

   But ever with a century of peace comes extravagance. That it may be replaced by frugality, honest and economical samurai must be given office. Mere laws and the machinery of government will not avail. So it is said: "Teach by example and they follow; by words and they accuse." When the great officers are righteous the mass of officials naturally follow with reverence and fear. When the great officers teach with words the subordinates quarrel and disobey. Though laws be many and increase yet is control difficult. The real and final fault is the unfitness of the officials for their places. Laws are necessary, but their efficiency is according to the men who enforce them. As Confucius said, "Government is by the man. With him it is complete; when he is destroyed it ceases."

   Find the proper man and entrust the laws to him. Let him assert or modify, advance or retreat, using the laws according to the times, using them as not immovably bound by them. He should skillfully roll them along and not be rolled along by them. When all is entrusted to officials such as these, the Government is not obstructed, the laws are enforced, the people obey and there is continual peace. Jewels are not the treasure of the empire but wise men.

must flatter the men in power. My samurai, modest and virtuous, are the life-power of the state. If their hearts are soiled and they become shameless and spiritless in every thing, putting up with insults that they may save their lives, they will have no heart to fulfil righteousness. So with the loss of their vitality will the vigour of the State fail. Then the State will readily be overturned and destroyed. Fail not to remember what I say."

Mandates and laws effect a temporary reformation, but constantly do they yield and fail long to influence those beneath their sway. They permeate but a little way and are lost in the mass.

   Custom is like a field and government like seed. Be the seed never so good, if the field is ill prepared it will not grow. Good laws accomplish nothing unless the customs too are good. First prepare the soil and then sow the seed. First reform customs if we desire good government. And the source of customs is the ruler himself. Let him govern himself and thus inspire those who are below. This is the unchanging law. If he govern not himself there is no model for the people.

   When good or evil has hardened into custom there can be no immediate change. To go over to the bad is easy, but to become good is difficult. If reform is purposed, tie fast custom that there be no drift into evil. The ruler cannot accomplish it alone, but all the officials, small and great, must perceive his purpose, govern themselves and be examples to the people. Nowadays all know the frugality of the Shōgun, yet the extravagance of the lower orders ceases not. Such worthless men as I ever celebrate the virtues of the Shōgun, still more should all the high officials approve him. Doubtless they are not all slothful and yet cannot at once reform the customs which have long been decayed.

   In the period Manji-Kwambun (1658-1672) quails were the fashion, and men of wealth competed for them and they became very costly. Abe Bungo no Kami, Tada-aki, fancied them and kept a cage ever by his side. A daimyō knew his fancy and buying one of highest price sent it to Abe by his physician. So the physician took it and said, "Be so kind as to accept it." But Abe merely replied, "I'll consider it." Then in a moment he called his servant and told him to turn the doors of the cages to the garden and open them. Out flew all the quails, to the surprise of the physician, who said, "Have they been so long with you that they will come

back again?" "No," was the reply; "I have let them go. By the will of the Shōgun I have been promoted and should have no fancies. Unthinkingly I became fond of quails and now men bring them as presents. I'll care for them no more." That answer made the physician ashamed. It is difficult to give up one's fancy and there is no objection to the acceptance of gifts. But Abe forgot not the people of his master. Trifles become the fashion, influence one's own rule and must be carefully guarded. And the other officials of the time were also pure and free from extravagance; nor were they proud of their power. And as their customs influenced those below them, the people too became pure and honest.

   So does custom generally pass from rulers to the people, but the opposite is sometimes true. When the source is pure the stream is clear, and when the source is impure so is the stream. But if mud heaps up at the mouth it dams the stream, and the impurity ascends even to the source. So nowadays the sons of wealthy merchants in company with samurai and officials, with rascals and dissolute townfolk, make brothels their home by day and night, and waste their time in play and drink. The custom penetrates higher circles, and even nobles and high officials go secretly to brothels and samurai are eager to be leaders in debauchery. This is the influence of the low upon the high. To amend it only good men should be made high officials and thus will the stream be purified at its source. Then next, the dissolute among the people should be searched out and put under arrest that the mud may be removed from the mouth.

   And there are other evils. The common folk are far from the tribunals. They have the right to enter protest against wrongs but, ignorant of the ceremonies and without learned words, they cannot go to the fine office and minutely state their case. The minor officials do not wish to listen, are proud of their authority and ready with severe reproof for the smallest error, even of a word. So people dread

the trouble, even when their cause is clearly just. And with only one court the cases heap up like mountains, as petitions come in from the four quarters. The smallest affair takes days, the neighbors are repeatedly summoned as witnesses, until the whole village is involved and hates the whole affair. The expense is great, and so, for the most part, wrongs are the rather borne in silence. Robbers and sins will never be diminished in this fashion.

   The distance of the court and the difficulty of the procedure are the source of the trouble. Small courts should be set up everywhere with good men in authority. They should be connected with the higher courts. The system of grouping five or ten houses together with mutual responsibility should be made more strict. Then bad men may be accused even though they do not actually violate the laws, They can be examined at once and released if their offence is trifling and sent to prison if it is great. All should be written out and sent with the prisoner to the central tribunal there to be judged. So there will still be communication with the Govornment in everything though it go not to the central tribunal first. As the smaller courts can decide at once there will be no delay. As the guilty cannot be hidden they will fear public opinion. They will not be influenced at once but still will naturally reform. But customs cannot be reformed while the tribunal prefers to be idle, and while it cares only when the laws are broken.

   In my opinion the reform of evil customs, while a way roundabout and slow, is the only efficient method. It is evil customs that obstruct the Government and destroy the virtue of the samurai.