It was his purpose to make a tour of China, to
arouse the Chinese Buddhists to send missionaries to India to restore
Buddhism there, and then to start a propaganda throughout the whole
world. He addressed the monks of Shanghai. Dr. Edkins, the veteran
missionary, acted as his interpreter. Dharmapala was surrounded by a
horde of curious monks who were more interested in his strange
appearance and in the cost of his garments than they were in his great
ideals. They were also feeling the iron heel of the Confucian government
and at once inquired about the attitude of the government toward such an
innovation. Dharmapala did not go beyond Shanghai.
Japanese Buddhists, especially the members of the Hongwanji sect, have
taken a deep interest in Chinese Buddhists. Count Otani once visited the
chief monasteries of China. Numerous Japanese Buddhists have made such
visits. In 1902, the Empress Dowager, fired by a reforming zeal, decided
to confiscate Buddhist property and to use the proceeds for the spread
of modern education. The Buddhist monasteries put themselves under the
protection of Japanese monks in order to hold their property. When by
1906 the Empress Dowager saw the consequences of her edict, she at once
issued a new edict, reversing the former one, and the Japanese monks
took their departure.
The Japanese Buddhists have been fired by missionary zeal for China. In
many of the large cities of China are the temples of the Hongwanji sect.
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