The well-known but often misunderstood doctrine of Karma amounts to this, that no man’s life is a product of the present only but is the result of a long chain of moral causation, in which the quality of his deeds and character bears the fruits deserved. It teaches that there is a necessary course of life and fortune for everyone, which is determined by his or her moral disposition tantamount to the merit or demerit of the past and present deeds. The doctrine sounds like fatalism, yet the intention was to admonish every one to do his best in endeavouring to free himself from vicious Karma and to advance on the way to Buddhist perfection.

When a deed or work is performed with the intention and pious desire of dedicating it to the soul of a certain person, its efficacy will establish a closer communion between the dedicator and the objective. If the soul to whom it is dedicated is travelling in the inferior resorts of transmigration, the piety and virtue of the dedication will help it along its way towards a better resort and finally to Buddhahood. If it has already attained a certain height of spiritual enlightenment, the dedicator himself will be led up more closely to the realm of bliss. Since the connection between the two is not merely based on their relationship during earthly existence but is in fact a partial manifestation of the universal nexus binding all beings, the dedication may, nay must, at the same time be directed to all fellow beings and the merit thereof will be participated in by them all.

The characteristic feature of Buddhism in Japan consists in the emphasis laid on the universal communion to be realized and the dedication of one’s own wisdom and merit to one’s fellow beings. This universalism was indeed an ideal never dreamt of before by the Japanese, and this religion of all-embracing love and salvation gave the people a wider and deeper comprehension of human life, an aspiration for an incomparably broader communion than had been taught by Shinto or Confucianism.

“There are beings without limit,
Let us take the vow to convey them all across.

There are depravities in us without number,
Let us take the vow to extinguish them all.

There are truths without end,
Let us take the vow to comprehend them all.

There is the Way of Buddha without comparison,
Let us take the vow to accomplish it perfectly.”

Hereby it is emphasized that without striving to fulfil the first vow, of saving fellow beings, the other three are vain, even if they could be achieved

The central idea in Buddhist teaching is the gospel of universal salvation based on the idea of the fundamental oneness of all beings. There are in the world, Buddhism teaches, manifold existences and innumerable beings, and each of these individuals deems himself to be a separate being and behaves accordingly. But in reality they make up one family, there is one continuity throughout, and this oneness is to be realized in the attainment of Buddhahood on the part of each and all, in the full realization of the universal communion. Individuals may purify themselves and thereby escape the miseries of sinful existence, yet our salvation is imperfect so long as and so far as there remain any who have not realized the universal spiritual communion, i.e., who are not saved. To save oneself by saving others is the gospel of universal salvation taught by Buddhism.

The union of religious ideals and national life thus proclaimed, expounded, and carried out by the prince, became once for all the aim of the greatest Buddhists and the aspiration of the best statesmen in Japan. Through the broad vision and high idealism of his leadership, Buddhism was able to influence the Japanese extensively and profoundly; it was largely due to Buddhist inspiration that the wise prince was able to handle successfully the difficult situations of his government and to lead his people to a high level of culture and spiritual edification.

The “Lotus” is a gospel of universal salvation and its purpose is to interpret the life and personality of the historical Buddha Sākya-muni as a manifestation of eternal truth (Dharma) working ever to bring all beings without exception into the all-embracing way (Eka-yāna) of salvation and enlightenment. His power of saving all is likened to the rainwater which, being one and homogeneous in itself, nourishes all plants and herbs of diverse sorts according to their respective natures and capacities. Not only was Buddha himself an example of Buddhist perfection but he also guides and inspires everyone who is ready to follow him. His working is not limited to his lifetime. He is an eternal and omnipresent Lord of the Universe, and besides his own direct instruction and inspiration, he sends innumerable saints, Bodhisattva, for the salvation of all throughout the ages. Thus we can see why Prince Shōtoku selected this book as the central theme of his lectures. His life was an emulation of this work of Buddha, and considering himself to be a Bodhisattva, he derived inspiration from those passages where Buddha’s saints were depicted as working incessantly for perfecting themselves by saving others and inducing others to take the same way to perfection.

Buddhism is usually known in the Occident as a religion of ascetic practice and atheistic ideas. Whatever the Western critics may say, the influence Buddhism exerted everywhere lay in its practice of love and equality, which was an outcome of its fundamental teaching of the unity of all beings, and of its ideal of supreme enlightenment (Bodhi) to be attained by all. This Bodhi amounts to realizing, in the spirit and in life, the basic unity of existence, the spiritual communion pervading the whole universe. This was exemplified by the person of Buddha, not only in his teaching of all-oneness but in his life of all-embracing charity. Those united in the faith in Buddha and his teaching form a close community of spiritual fellowship, in which the truth of oneness is embodied and the life of charity is practised. In short, the principle of the Buddhist religion amounts to faith and life in the Three Treasures (Rama-traya), which means oneness of the Perfect Person (Buddha), the Truth (Dharma), and the Community (Sangha).

Scrupulous fidelity to tradition is everywhere a characteristic of tribal religion. Its morality is based upon the sanctity of the communal life amounting to the adoration of blood kinship and the observance of social rules. The individual is almost nothing in the face of the community, and unreasoning submission to social sanction is the essential condition of individual life. Authority and tradition, not the person and conscience, are the ultimate foundation of morality which, though remaining still in force, are being modified by the influence of modern civilization on village life. This has been the strength and at the same time the weakness of Japanese morality. It was the force that solidified the feudal régime and still sustains the solidarity of the people as a body.

“In the beginning” men and animals were gods, and plants and rocks had speech; but even now, according to the Shinto conception, it is not entirely otherwise.