She is a very good woman. All the neighbors come
to her, when there is any one sick or in trouble. So I say to her:
'Wife, I should think you would make a first-class Christian.' But I
think she lets herself be worried by altogether too many troubles. She
is all the time thinking and fussing and planning. To be sure, it is
mostly about other people, But then she does have the children and the
house and the relatives and friends and neighbors to look after. Perhaps
she really cannot be a Buddhist. Perhaps it is all a matter of
temperament. Oh, but I tell you it is great to be a Buddhist, because it
gives you such a wonderful peace."
IX
PRESENT-DAY BUDDHISM:
_1. Periods of Buddhist History_
The history of Buddhism in China may be divided into four periods.
Buddhism entered China, as we have seen, in the second century B.C. The
first period, that of the translation and propagation of the faith,
ended in 420 A.D. The second period, that of interpenetration, lasted to
the beginning of the T'ang dynasty, 618 A.D. The third, the period of
establishment, ended with the close of the five dynasties, in 960 A.D.
The fourth period, that of decay, has extended to the present day.
_2. The Progress of the Last Twenty-five Years_
There are signs of a revival of Buddhism in China. Whether this is a
tide, or a wave, only the future can reveal. In 1893 Dharmapala, an
Indian monk, stopped in Shanghai on his way back from the Congress of
Religions in Chicago.
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