DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



chappel, or small temple, which was consecrated to the 

 Patron of the Dogs." * 



In crediting the dog with some sort of a soul, Buddhism 

 permits to the dog a closer relationship with man than does 

 Christianity, which in the matter of salvation gives to the 

 canine race not even the proverbial " dog's chance," and, 

 indeed, claiming to himself a sole exclusive heaven, allows no 

 closer association than did St. Bernard of Clairvaux when, 

 preaching in the twelfth century, he likened the love of angels 

 to man as being similar to that of a man's friendship to his dog, 

 on the principle of the proverb, " Love me, love my dog," at 

 the same time bringing into comparison the love of Deity to 

 man and the love of man to his dog.f Buddhists, indeed, 

 recognize no essential difference, on spiritual grounds, be- 

 tween dog and man. Their faith is like that of the Indian who 



asks no angel's wings, no seraph's fire : 

 But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, 

 His faithful dog shall bear him company. J 



In the Buddhist cycle the spirit of man commonly passes into 

 the form of a dog. While mediaeval Christianity represented 

 dogs, indicating fidelity during earthly life, and lions, for 

 valour, at the feet of their owners in many old brasses and stone 

 effigies in churches, the Buddhist placed numerous repre- 

 sentations of the dog in clay and pottery in early Chinese 

 tombs, with a view to the retention of their services in the 

 life to come. Christian lore gives earthly glory to the dog of 

 St. Roch, a familiar beastie in French churches, honoured 

 for the succouring of his master smitten with plague. The 

 good Buddhist, to demonstrate that dog and man are merely 

 units in the cycle of transmigration, will quote the conversion 



* " The History of Japan," Kaempfer, Maclehose, vol. iii, p. 16. 

 f " Angeli amant nos, quia nos Christus amavit. Dicitur certe vulgari proverbio ; 

 qui me amat, amat et canem meum." 



t " The Indian and his Dog," Alex. Pope. 



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