THE EARLY ERAS OF HISTORY
is it possible to conceive that any such title ranked as a vital tenet of the nation's political creed? Must not the theory of heavenly descent be placed rather in the category of traditions which had not yet begun to assume the paramount importance subsequently assigned to them?
Thus, almost from the very outset, Buddhism received the strenuous support of the Imperial Court and of the nobles alike. Never did any alien faith find warmer welcome in a foreign country. It had virtually nothing to contend against except the corruption and excesses of its own ministers. The lavish patronage extended to them disturbed their moral balance. From luxury and self-indulgence they passed to chicanery and political intrigue, until, in the middle of the eighth century, one of them actively conspired to obtain the throne for himself. Throughout the whole course of its history in Japan, alike in ancient, in mediæval, and in modern times, Buddhism has been discredited by the conduct of its priests. But it has also numbered among its propagandists many men of transcendent ability, lofty aims, and fanatical courage. It found its way to the heart of the Japanese nation less for the sake of its doctrines than for the sake of the civilisation it introduced. Its priests became the people's teachers. They constituted a bridge across which there passed perpetually from the Asiatic continent to Japan a stream of new knowledge. To enumerate the
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