NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 221 



tals, factories, etc., and the worshipers in the temples had become 

 few. Taoism as a philosophy will always be worthy of study, but it 

 seems very likely that as a religion it will continue to weaken and in 

 time may completely disappear. 



BUDDHISM 



Buddhism, although originally a foreign religion, has long been 

 indigenous. It is a missionary religion, and its missionaries zealously 

 spread their religion and translated the sacred books. In due time 

 these tasks were taken over by Chinese. At times it enjoyed the favor 

 of emperors and other officials, and at other times it fell into disfavor 

 and even suffered persecution. The Buddhism of China, Tibet, Korea, 

 and Japan is the Mahayana Buddhism. 



In the past many Chinese scholars have opposed Buddhism because 

 of its otherworldliness. Other scholars were attracted to Buddhism 

 by the facts that its sacred books were translated into elegant Chinese 

 and that it also brought with it an intricate and somewhat satisfying 

 philosophy. The common people were attracted to Buddhism by its 

 compassion for human suffering, its many gods, its magic ceremonies, 

 and by its charms and incantations to enable people to achieve de- 

 sired ends. It has been influenced by Taoism and by the popular re- 

 ligion of China. It brought to China monasticism, image worship, 

 karma and transmigration, a hell and a Western heaven. 



There are many schools of Buddhism in China, but at least in 

 West China these do not mean a great deal to the common people. 

 During recent decades there have been attempts to reform the religion 

 so as to bring it more into harmony with modern thought. 



The Buddhism of today is not the Buddhism of Buddha. It re- 

 jected all the known gods of India and did not teach or worship any 

 god or gods. Its program of salvation consisted of bringing the indi- 

 vidual to the state of nirvana, which many interpret to be practically 

 the extinction of personality. 



Some of the shortcomings of Buddhism are : 



1. Its low estimate of human life and human society. 



2. Its low estimate of the family. 



3. Its lack of a program to improve human beings and human society. 



4. Its low estimate of women. 



5. Its pessimism. 



6. Its polytheism. 



7. Its use of charms, incantations, and magic ceremonies. 



