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Show JcpUiOQriST Jr OGS 1 Anesaki Comes, j When the freshman goes to Harvard Har-vard University to take up his courses in the future he will find among the lists of studios a chance to learn the teachings of Buddha. A new chair was established there In tho present scholastic year It Is the professorship of Japanese Japan-ese literaturo and life. Tho professor pro-fessor Is Dr. Masaharu Anosakl, priest of Buddha. Tes. sir, a priest of Buddha. Wouldn't the old Pilgrim Fathers throw up their hands in astonishment astonish-ment to see this man from the isles across the ocean giving: lessons on Oriental culture In the halls of tho university they established themselves? them-selves? But Dr. Anesaki is not here to teach Buddhism alone. He has no intentions of winning Americans from Christianity. He Is a mlld- j mannered, polite son . of Xlppon. He drosses in American garb and not in the flowing robes of a Bud- I dhlst priest. His coming is sim ply the continuation of the policy I of" American educators to bring all i the culturo of the world to Amer ica. The growth of civilization has been a merging of different types. It has been a combination of tho , learning of different nations. Israel has contributed her share, Egypt, ' Greece, Rome and the Germans ! have all" been prominent factors. , Every nation of Europe has given j something to make American schol- I ars wiser. Now comes Dr. Anesaki, i bringing with him the culture of j the East, to add to our civilization. Physically Dr. Anesaki Is not a robust type whose tremendous force I of earnestness would flhake a gen eration materialistic and indifferent; indiffer-ent; he la calm and even pale in face, tall and slender In body, a fig-9 fig-9 ure on -whose shoulders a Buddhistic Buddhis-tic robe would fittingly lie. His still eyes express how deep and clear his thought advances. We know him to be a graceful typo of a Japanese known as a Kyotoan. "I do not como to America," he said, "either as an apologist or as a J propagandist, of which we have had ! enough examples In the past; when I I stand In the Harvard olassroom ' I wish to maintain tho dignity and prudence of a mere scholar from tho beginning to the end." Ho desires de-sires to differentiate his own spe-( spe-( ; elal position from that, for Instance, , i of the exchange professor lately sent , from America to Japan In the per- l ' son of Dr. Arable. ? A3IERIOA RECOGNIZES ! JAPANESE CULTURE. 5 , If tho establishment of this new chair at Harvard Is a sign of Amerl- ril can recognition of Japan's attaln- 1 , jnent In science, as well as of the Importance of Oriental culture, J Japan Is much flattered. It is only in Japan that real Buddhism exists; ex-ists; and If the Japanese civilization civiliza-tion old and new cannot well be j Interpreted without that religious background as, In factt all the j Japanese fully Indorse Dr. Anesa- j kl's appointment for tho chair on 5 Japanese literature and life, which I Is quite significant In Itself. Dr. ; Anasekl's courses of lectures are i divided In two parts, the part of "special" 13 scientific, tho subjects being such as the Pall Texts of ' Buddhism and their Chinese coun terparts . which is his own special Istudy, And when he compares tne Oriental religions with the Western thought 'he will prove hlmBelf to be at his strongest It was Dr. Gulick'who remarked: "Dr. Anesaki is .evidently familiar with the subject of comparative rosy ro-sy liglon as it has been developed In v the West. Although regarding him-, him-, self as a Buddhist, ho is neverthe-Wj neverthe-Wj less so thoroughly acquainted with I Christianity, both in its doctrines Rn and history, that many look upon JiU him as more nearly a Christian than 'J anything else." ;: Dr. Anesakl's Buddhistic study i! was begun early In his life by the way, ho Is professor of the science of religion in the Imperial Unlver-! Unlver-! slty, Toklo and his Interest in the comparative Btudy of religion was much stimulated in his undergraduate under-graduate years by books like Kidd'a . r 5 "Social Evolution," or Lang'o . I "Myths. Ritual and Religion," or J Taylor's "Primitive Culture," whose 2 popularity of some twenty years ago 1 was considerable. Although many s ' volumes of religious investigation i ' such as "The History of Indian Ro- ,' . liglon," "The Personality of Bud- ' dha, Its Aspects in History and 1 , Faith," "The Four Buddhist Aga- mas in Chinese and Pall Counter- 1 parts," are creditod to his already distinguished name, he is still a young man, having been born In 1873. His international reputation for his special line. Oriental philosophy, philoso-phy, was well established when he published "Religion in Japan" (In tho Encyclopedia Americana), "How Christianity Appeals to a Buddhist" and other similar workB. His Important work on Bud-'dhism Bud-'dhism In its fundamental aspect as ' e. religion is going to bo brought out soon In America. He writes well , "both in English and French; ana it is idle to dwell on his ability In Japanese writing since he has written writ-ten not only philosophical treatises, but also many beautiful prose works and even stories. Ho published ?'Fiorettl d'ltalia" in Japanese, as the result of a pleasing journey he en-, joyed under the benefit of "la bourse pour la tour autour du monde" which Albert Kahn donated donat-ed to tho Imperial University of 1 Tokio. The beautiful easy stylo of the book caught the public attention atten-tion and revived the Interest of some fifteen years ago when ho was ; ambitious even as a prose writer. I BUDDHISM OLDER THAN CHRISTIANITY. Buddhism is 500 years older than Christianity. It originated with Buddha, a Prlnco of India, who saw suffering all around him. Ho went t forth to overthrow wrong and ( taught a new religion which was V t -'-k by GERHARD 5I5TE5 far better than any that had been taught before his time. After he died his followers began to worship him as is the custom in the Orient. His religion spread to China and Japan. It even is taught as far west as Arabia, although Moham-edlsm Moham-edlsm holds sway there. In Japan It reached Its Tiighcst development. Dr. Anesaki Is particularly rfiou-cst rfiou-cst when speaking of his appointment appoint-ment to the professorship at Harvard. Har-vard. He refuses to believe It was through any merit in lilmsclf that he was appointed. Speaking of his appointment he said: "It has boon a pious desire cherished cher-ished long since among tho Japanese Japan-ese graduates at Harvard to have a lectureship on Japanese civilization founded In their Alma Mater. And a movement to establish a professorship profes-sorship took" definite shape among certain friends of Japan In' America, Ameri-ca, The same wish vmet from tho two sides and tho negotiation pro- : ceeded among them; the Harvard Club of Japan succeeded In raising In Japan Its part of the fund necessary neces-sary for the foundation In the course of 1912 and 1913. It was then decided by tho authorities of ' the university to call the chair the 'professorship of Japanese literature litera-ture and life' and to appoint tho Incumbents on tho recommendation of the Harvard Club of Japan. Vlt was in May last that I was asked by Baron Klkkcwa of the club to accept the nomination to tho chair. Thinking that there are men belter fitted than myself, I expressed ex-pressed to him my recommendation recommenda-tion of those. But' several circumstances circum-stances caused tho committee of tho Harvard Club to nominate me, and AT top, Dr. Masaharu Anesaki. Lower left, a Buddhist priest of Western Asia. Lower right, his son. Lower center, daughters of a Chinese Buddhist. GERHAR.D 55TER finally, after hesitation, I dared to accept tho offer. A grant of the leave of absence by tho president of the Imperial University of Toklo, to Which I belong, the acceptance of the recommendation by the president presi-dent and fellows of Harvard, a meeting of the Harvard Club for presenting mo to the members these followed one after another, and I arrived In Boston September 7. Tho rapid progress of these arrangements ar-rangements sometimes puzzled mo as to how I should prepare myself for tho duty, but the advice and assistance as-sistance afforded mc by the frienda in Toklo and Cambrldgo enabled me to step forward and finally to open my lectures September 24." '' BUDDHIST OUTLINES HIS COURSE OP STUDY. Speaking of .his course he said: "What I purpose, to give in this course of lectures Is a history of Japanese civilization with a special emphasis upon the religious and moral aspects of the nation's life, rather than a history of religious Ideas and moral theories. This is, accordingly, a course of philosophy, in a wider sense of the word; what I hope to present to you Is material for the study of comparative religion, re-ligion, comparative ethics, or comparative com-parative psychology. . Another point In the scope of my to Stu- ! dents at Univer- sity 1 Founded by Pil- 0 grim Fathers j work to be made clear at the out- '.! set that the aim of the lectures I is not to pre.ont only such aspects ' ' of Japanese life as shall be favor- 'i i-' able to the Japanese nation. The course Is not an apology nor an eulogy, but a presentation of facts. , y- - There is no need, perhaps, of tell- , fr- Ing you that I stand here not as a .' champion or an apologist of the j Japanese but as a scholar, a man of science, whose task Is to make re- j I . searches and to Investigate facts , ' and their bearings. But I feel I must say this, because some men, I "1 outside academic circles, may mis- J" understand the nature of the chair , and of my task. It Is, however, not ' r-. Impossible that the lectures nd ' f'J. the researches connected with this I . chair may one day bring forth k , some practical results in the polttl- -i cal relations of America and of Japan. Yet we must, for the pres- jjk ent and here In academic circles, I disregard any consideration of that S kind and strive to work scientifical- , ; . ly, for the sake of truth. This point I has been presented to those who j made the nomination for this chair J and I have got their consent. !, "The new antithesis of cultures . which has manifested itself since the fifteenth century and which s a great problem nowadays, may be roughly expressed as the cm- ft trast between Christian and F&ndd- 0, hist civilizations. It may be ques- , tloned whether the Asiatic, the : Oriental culture in a broader sense, i ft- Is thoroughly Buddhist and how i deeply Buddhism has penetrated to R;'.-v tho hearts of those Orientals. I There nre certainly other elements " ,-jV In the far Oriental civilization, moat g.': prominent of which is tho , Chinese, or Confucian.' Yet thfc i dominating influence of Buddhism p cannot be denied, and Confucian- fe-V' ism or Taoism or Shinto cannot I ; V. have become what they are today, , !." without Buddhist Influences. Thus i'V I might say, roughly speaking, th p (;-: Fax-Orienal culture Is Buddhistic. V -, and the Occidental including the . hrtff Far-Occidental, tho American is Christian. COMES TO ADD ' frf ORIENTAL LEARNING. , 1; "Accordingly a question of Inter- -est and importance both to tne 't ' man of science and to the practical I man Is whether these two stream of culture will proceed In opposl- f r " sitlon or will some day become correlated cor-related in mutual understanding and appreciation, or In supplementary supplemen-tary reciprocity, or in 'an amalgamation. amalga-mation. Will Christianity and Christian civilization dominate and j-Buddhism j-Buddhism perish? Or will the West always remain the West and tho East the East? Or will the one be Influenced by the other, more or less and In this or that way. and thus each of them continue to ex- art Its Influence in a modified way or In a transformed shRpe? To many people in the West, the quos- , tions may appear rather ridiculous I and In no need of Investigation. But the questions seem to me not quite so easy to answer. ' "I venture to say this, because the materials for the solution are not yet adequate and an under- j standing not to speak of an ap- j preciatlon of either side by the .j other is very meager. I say this, not merely from the standpoint of W. an Oriental but from that of a scholar. For, no scholar Is entitled ; to pass a decisive Judgment before he reaches a scientific conviction based on adequate materials, widely collected, thoroughly understood Jf and properly Interpreted. If there i p Is any scholar whether Oriental or P Occidental who would dare to think tho solution is attained, I thave no hesitation in pronouncing his judgment premature and his at-titude at-titude unscientific Inadequate 1 knowledge never loads to a sound . conclusion. "If I am not mistaken In these j views, It Is my duty to pcrsuado you, as students of man, of his life 1 and his mind, to . study the I Buddhlco-Orlntal culturo and also i, to offer you the materials for study j of this culture In as full measure as possible. This I deem to be my task here. w ' , "Tho primary concern of these I lectures is Japan, but they may ajso I servo as a study In Oriental culture I in general and may offer Important A material for the "kulturhlstorlsche" 'I examination of mankind. Any Judg- 1 3 ment certalntly on the world's fu- 1 ture as regards the relation of the iW East to the West will be premature jjf until each understands thoroughly 3 and appreciates :he other," j |