CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES AND CHINA’S CANONICAL WRITINGS

BY PROFESSORHARLAN P. BEACH

THE canonical writings under discussion in this article are the classical books commonly regarded as the orthodox expositions of the Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist systems of ethics and religion. More specifically, the phrase includes for Taoism its original canon, the ‘ Tao Te Ching,’ or Classic of the Tao and its Manifestations, ascribed to Lao Tzii, and the ‘Nan Hua Chi% Ching,’ or True Classic of Nan-hua,l written by the most famous of Lao Tzii’s followers, Chuang Tzii, ‘ mystic, moralist and social reformer,’ whose aim, according to the historian, Ssii-ma Ch’ien, was to asperse the Confucian school and to glorify the mysteries of his master. We also include the thin volumes of a probable forgery ascribed to Lieh Tzii, but not the essays of Han Fei Tzii of the third pre-Christian century, the esoteric works of the prince of the , Huai-nan Tzti, nor a modern production of the Taoist School as in- fluenced by Buddhism, the ‘ Kan Ying P’ien,’ or Tractate upon Rewards and Punishments. Of course one would not mention a mass of mystical, magical and puerile writings that have degraded Taoism and made it a laugh- ing-stock and a hissing.2 The phrase ‘ Confucian Classics ’ is commonly sup- posed to include only the Five Classics, or ’s Old Testament, and the Four Books, roughly correspond- ing to our New Testament. Though they are relatively

Dr Wilhelm translates it ‘ Das Wahrebuch vom siidliche Bliitenland.’ a In imitation of Confucian classics, Taoists later produced two sets of ‘ Five Classics’ and two sets of ‘Four Books,’ one set of each being mystical aiid the other magical. 236 Missioftaries and Chinese CZassics 237 well known in the Occident, four other works, practically unknown, are regarded as filling up the complement of the Thirteen Classics. Of these most of us have only seen the ‘ Hsiao Ching,’ or Classic of , forming the last portion of volume 111 of the Sacred Books of the East. It is through the Nine Classics that Chinese litera- ture and religion are best known; and here it is that and his equally worthy follower, , appear as the peers in many respects of their western contemporaries, Socrates and Plato. As for the Buddhist canon in its Chinese form, it is more difficult to speak. Chinese definitions of canon make it hard to select from its extremely voluminous literature those writings which are deemed true ‘ Ching ’ by Chinese Buddhists. The various schools into which that faith has been divided have arisen largely because of this very embarrassment of literature, which caused different leaders to segregate certain works and found their schools upon those particular teachings. Yet we may perhaps follow the estimate of the editor of the Sacred Books of the East, who devoted ten volumes of the series to Buddhistic can0ns.l Instead of Max Miiller’s translation of the ‘Dhammapada,’ however, that by Beal from the Chinese, with illustrations from life and story, is far better. One would add to these volumes such works as the ‘Ta Ch’hg Ch’i Hsin Lun ’ (Awakening of the Faith) of the Mahayha school, about as large as St Mark’s Gospel, yet funda- mental for the Pure Land Sect of Buddhists ; the ‘ Fo Pen Hsing Chi Ching ’ -Romantic History of Buddha is the title of Beal’s translation and abstracts-and the ‘ LEng Yen Ching ’ -the full Chinese title contains twenty char- acters-Sutra of Nalanda, extolled by Chu Hsi (the greatest Confucian commentat or and in early life himself devoted to Buddhism), as being the best worth reading of all Buddhist literature. Other works, equally important, are omitted in this selected list. 1 Vols. x, XI, XIII, XVII, XIX, xx, XXI, xxxv, XXXVI, XLIX. 238 Inteynational Review of Missions With very few exceptions, Chinese Protestant mis- sionaries have not studied these sacred books, beyond a small portion of the Confucian literature. Reasons therefor are obvious. Linguistic obstacles stand in the way, first of all. None of them is written in the Mandarin or other colloquial, which is all that most missionaries take time to acquire. The Wen-li in which they are written is so different from the vernacular and so concise that commentaries are required for a true understanding of them. These in turn are in Wen-li and, like the text, contain many unfamiliar ideographs. Again, their very bulk makes the task seem impossible. While the ‘Tao Ti! Ching ’ is perhaps the briefest major canon in the world, being about half the length of St Mark’s Gospel,’ as a rule they are very large. Thus the Confucian Classics and their accompanying necessary commentary are far more errtensive than our Bible, to say nothing of the 4754 different characters which must be known before the words can even be pronounced. That portion of the Buddhist canon translated by the early Hindu scholars and by one Chinese translator is as large as seven hundred New Testaments ; while the ‘ Ta Pan-@ Po-lo-mi-to Ching,’ Hsuan Tsang’s translation of the ‘ Mah8 Prajnd Paramit8 Siitra,’ is about eighty times the size of our New Testament, according to Dr Edkins and Mi Beal. Both of these sinologues believe the entire Chinese Buddhist canon to be seven hundred times larger than our Bible. The religious values of this mass of literature embedded in hieroglyps are so limited, in common missionary estima- tion, that even the most sympathetic friend of Chinese religions shrinks from a task so hopeless and so little rewarding. Perhaps, however, some would undertake it did not other duties, more directly fruitful, already over- burden them. A supposedly conscientious use of time

1 Yet the most comprehensive collection of Taoist scriptures is the ‘Tao Tsang Ch’iian Shu’ (complete Thesaurus of Taoism), a greatly abridged edition of which contains eighty octavo volumes. Missionaries and Chinese CZassics 239 thus debars them from a world of religious thought which is familiar and propadeutic for the Chinese, leaving the missionaries in occidental isolation. There are other considerations, very different in char- acter, which make the missionary pause in the face of this problem. The Chinese are now living in the twentieth century ; and since it dawned, the Confucian Classics have been doomed, first by the abolition of examinations in 1905, and even more effectively by the revolution of 1911 and its aftermath, the republic. The much coveted office-bringing degrees are no longer won by a successful examination upon the Classics ; and the life of the republic is almost oblivious of the teachings of the Throneless King, even though the people have not lost interest in the Secondary Sage, Mencius. Again, the national leaders of most advanced views realize the handicaps of their ideographic language. They see their enterprising neigh- bours struggling to shake off the incubus of Chinese characters, which, despite the fact that Japan has a poly- syllabic language and two forms of the Kana syllabary and so does not really require ideographic writing, they still employ in their best books. The educated Chinese revolt against the new phonetic script for any serious purpose, though approving its use for the masses and for lower stages of education. And they compromise their problem by advocating the increasing use of Mandarin of the Pekingese form, the official spoken language of the old Imperial Court. Professor Su Hu of Peking University and a group of the younger foreign trained literary men are pressing this propaganda with some effect, thus second- ing the Government’s proposition that the medium of instruction must be simplified. But this passing of Con- fucianism and the waning in consequence of the Whli form of the language means that the classical language is yearly diminishing in importance, with fewer Chinese understanding quotations from the sacred books and also with a weakened incentive to read the canonical writings. 240 Internationad Review of Missions To offset partially these discouragements, there is present in limited circles a renewal of interest, in the Three Religions and their scriptures. Confucianism came strongly to the front when the new republic was for- mulating its permanent constitution. In the provisional one freedom of religious belief was proclaimed. But when the parliamentary committee reached that part of the revision of the document, a vigorous attempt was made to constitute the republic a Confucian state. A Con- fucian Church had been established, and the opposition to religious freedom came from its heads, prominent among whom was Dr Ch’h Huan-chang, whose two- volume book, Economic Principles of Confucius and His School, contains the substantive elements of revived and modernized Confucianism. To meet this movement, for the first time the other two recognized religions-and the later exotics, Mohammedanism and Christianity-united their forces in a common attempt to secure religious equality and liberty. Months of agitation and struggle caused the reaffirmation of religious freedom of the pro- visional constitution, though the new one has not yet been ratified. The effect of this agitation upon Buddhism and Taoism has been to stimulate them into a more vigorous life, particularly the former. As Dr Wilhelm has already stated in this Review,l a Buddhist and a Taoist Church have been organized with detailed constitutions recog- nized by the state. The Taoist Pai Yiin Kuan monastery in Peking leads the movement in the north, and the Ching An monastery of the Buddhists in Shanghai has the same pre-eminence in the south, corresponding to the predomin- ance of each faith in its respective section. The Buddhists have issued two periodicals at least in the interests of further awakening, which has likewise been stimulated by conferences and discussions in Hangchow and Shanghai. Is it not the part of wisdom for the Christian Church to aid in this seeming renaissance ? A tour of visitation among See IRM, 1913(October), p. 631. Missionaries and 241 leading Buddhist monasteries of Central China, made in the spring of 1920 by Professors Reichelt of Norway and Hodous of America, both of whom are missionaries and students of Buddhism, revealed readiness to receive Christian fellowship and unexpected interest in the Gospel. From still another angle it would seem desirable to know the tenets of the Three Religions. For two decades and more a stream of occidental literature, agnostic or definitely anti-Christian, has been coming to China. Some of it has emanated from the Rationalist Press Association of Japan ; most of the literature has come in the natural course of scholarly inquiry into the religious and social thought of the West. The personal experiences and observations of returned students from America and Europe, many of whom have lost their Christian faith during their sojourn in those countries, only add to the destructive influence of this type of literature. Many of the new Chinese are doubting the reality of all religions. They cannot hold to the ancient faiths ; and they believe that the Christianity which they have seen, and attacks upon which they are reading, is only a lesser evil of the old sort. It is always perilous to leave a nation without a religion. Especially is it true of China, whose religions have far more to be said in favour of their retention than those of other non-Christian lands. Space limitations prevent the presentation of the, convictions of many eminent missionaries and Christian scholars who advocate the use of the important truths of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, not on the ground of their adequacy, nor because of any slightest doubt as to the supremacy and indispensableness of Christianity, but because these religions possess helpful and familiar stepping-stones to the higher teachings of our faith. Legge, Edkins, Medhurst, Faber, Martin, Gibson, Richard, Soothill, Sheffield, Pott, are names of such broad-minded missionaries, and almost without except ion men of unusual Chinese scholarship and knowledge of these canons. 16 242 International Review of Missions In view of the foregoing considerations and many others which might have been adduced, what are Christian missionaries to do with these scriptures ? All, certainly, ought to know something about them and their teachings; and those whose contacts and duties bring them into frequent and close association with non- Christians should know much about them, since every Chinese is devoted on occasion to each of the Three Re- ligions. At the very least, they should know the historical outlines and teachings of the three systems. If no more can be done than to read carefully such volumes as Soot- hill’s Three Religions of China, or Professor Giles’ Con- fucianism and Its Rivals, a measure of intelligence will have been gained. Before classical Chinese has been studied, junior missionaries can read translations of the leading canons. If the high cost of Legge’s translation of Confucian and Taoist texts is prohibitive-we refer to those editions containing both text and translations of most of the Confucian books, with their extended prolegomena -the Trubner edition of the life and teachings of Con- fucius and of Mencius, in two volumes, is not so expensive. Many editions of the ‘Tao Ti2 Ching ’ are on the market, with Medhurst’s the best from the Christian viewpoint, and Balfour’s from the Taoist’s-the latter also with the Chinese text. Giles’ translation of the writings of Chuang Tzii is less expensive than Legge’s two-volume edition, plus the ‘ Tao T6 Ching,’ etc., included. Beal’s Catena of Buddhist Scriptures can be afforded by most and is very valuable. Many other possibilities are open, both in the line of translations and general discussions, and they will enable the tyro to know the best in these canons before he undertakes Wen-li studies.l During the missionary’s first furlough and after returning, those who mingle most with educated Chinese, or with priests of Taoist or

1 See the present writer’s annotated Bibliography of 250 works, found in The Preselztation of Chvistiaxity in Con.fucian Lands, pp. 127-45. New York: 25 Madison Avenue. Missionaries adChinese CZassics 243 Buddhist temples, should study as opportunity permits sections of the sacred canons under the instruction of scholars of those faiths. In studying Buddhism, it is especially necessary to secure Buddhist teachers -pro- vided they are educated, as few are-for the reason that the early translators from India introduced many Sankrit words and phrases by reproducing the foreign sounds in Chinese characters, regardless of their significance ; and Confucian teachers know not a syllable of Sanskrit, nor do missionaries themselves oftentimes. At best, however, missionaries cannot spend much time on these Wh-li scriptures. It is through the education of their constituency, and especially of the teachers and pastors, that they can best further the cause which we are now considering. It can be aided most in higher schools and colleges, and in the training institu- tions and theoIogica1 seminaries. For the former class of schools, the following policy is diffidently offered for con- sideration. As it will long be desirable to teach students the Wen-li style, and as most such institutions already do so in part through the Confucian Classics, why not include in this course excerpts from Taoist and Buddhist scriptures also? No longer do mission schools require the student to read the Confucian Classics in their entirety; and as teachers choose, too often at random, the portions for such reading, one would think that a careful selection of passages containing the best of these ethical and religious teachings is a desideratum. The present writer in a recent sojourn of five months in half the provinces of China did not find any uniformity in such selection, save as some schools used readers published b Shanghai firm and containing classical selections along with others. It would seem desirable for the Christian Literature Society, or the Christian Educational Association, to appoint a com- petent committee, made up of Christian Chinese scholars and of a very few of the best educated Buddhist and Taoist priests, to choose these selections. If this were 244 Internntionak Review of Missiopzs done and the resultant excerpts were arranged in a topically classified anthology, China would have the text of a most useful source book on comparative ethics and religion. Side by side would be the best that the Chinese scriptures had to say upon vital themes affecting belief and the higher life, together with teachings as to sin and conduct unbecoming the good citizen. All technical terms would need to be explained in notes, as would the Sanskrit words in Buddhist selections. An accompanying translation of the WSn-li into Pekingese Mandarin would serve the double purpose of making intelligible what other- wise might be obscure and of imparting a knowlcdge of the Pekingese dialect to non-residents of North China. This is the speech that the Government desires to make the standard for the entire republic. A volume of five hundred pages more or less, thus prepared and taught in the high schools and colleges of the various missions, would form the basis for further studies by students of training and theological schools. As these persons propose to , spend their lives in Cliristian work among people of every shade of religious belief, they should know more thoroughly the threefold scriptures of China, especially as related to the Bible and its teachings. As the Chinese are pre-eminently ethical, an extended study of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian ethics should be made, with a natural emphasis upon the last named. Having discovered and brought to this tri-religious seminar their findings, discussions as to similarities and differences of the three systems would fix the facts in memory and contribute to a formulation of what Chinese ethics really contain. Even inore important and also more difficult would it be to study in a seminar the religious teachings of these canons. Yet it would be most stimulating to enter upon such a search, especially as once and again one would discover rare nuggets of faith and deep longings for an un- known God, little suspected in China. It would be under- stood in both these courses of study that canons are only Missionaries and Chinese CZassics 245 part of the source material. The laboratory of religion lies all about -in the temples, graveyards, festivals, markets and in the daily life of the people. From child- hood each student has had ears to hear and eyes to see and tongue to question ; but too often have the eyes been holden, the ears stopped and the tongue speechless. Now a Christian ' Ephphatha ! ' opens up ears and eyes and loosens the tongue to hear, see and speak freely of what his countrymen know of religion and of the unsatisfied longings of their souls. To meet these needs, the class would search for parallels to the truths held, for harmful dissonances, and for Christian teachings that will quench the thirst of their non-Christian fellows. To cultivate ability to mobilize these newly acquired forces and to meet anti-Christian attacks, a clinic for soul therapeutics should be established to which all inquiring or opposing Chinese could be invited for full and frank discussion of religion in all its phases, Chinese and foreign alike. It is easy for Christian students in scholastic halls to discuss such matterstogether ; but it will prove to be a difficult and often a most delicate task to lead on from point to point non-believers who are zealous, or at least interested to see the native religions come out victorious, or at least with unimpaired dignity. The Christian who attempts to conduct such work will fail of his best possibilities if he employs the weapons of ridicule, or sophistry, and especi- ally if he maintains the attitude of ' I am holier than thou ' and creates the general impression of superiority and professional condescension for the hour. If some such course of study and plan of work for Taoists, Buddhists and Confucianists were adopted by the various missions in China, much could be done to win converts to Christianity by both missionaries and Chinese Christians. But the best results are likely to be secured in accordance with the Confucian principle that a tree is best felled by an axe whose helve is taken from its own branches. If a few outstanding men of each of the three religions 246 Internationad Review of Missiom could be won and then be carefully trained to win others for Christ, results would probably be greater than if Christians from birth attempted to do it. This does not apply so much to Confucianists as it does to men of Taoist and Buddhist beliefs. One looks eagerly toward the plans of Professor Reichelt and his Buddhist Christian Brother- hood scheme for creating institutes where, in an environ- ment such as they are accustomed to and in accordance with the genius of their religion and traditions, they are taught the truths and life of Christ,ianity. With few modifications, the plan might be adapted by the committee of the China Continuation Committee having that matter in charge, to extend it to Taoists also, since their monastic life is quite similar. From such institutes would go forth to the ministry of the various Churches, or into the lay membership, persons who have always been the religious leaders of China, now coming with another and vastly higher message to the adherents of all three religions. A still wider work awaits those missionaries of special training and Chinese scholarship who have studied the sacred canons of China, and who have mingled with the educated leaders of the three faiths. The Occident and its most intelligent Christians know practically nothing of China’s beliefs; they simply regard its people as ‘ heathen Chinese ’ verging closely upon atheism. The writer believes that the time will come when this mis- understanding will pass away. It would greatly hasten the day, if such missionaries as we are considering would co-operate with the fittest and most intelligent repre- sentatives of each of the Chinese religions in producing translations of fuller anthologies than those above con- sidered, and in the production of new translations of key volumes of the very best literature, not yet known to the West. It is true that we already have the Sacred Books of the East in forty-nine huge tomes, ten of which are devoted to our special faiths. Yet most of the Buddhist books are southern and not representative of the Mahiiyiina School. Missionaries and Chinese CZassics 247 And as for the translations of Taoist and Confucian works, though Dr Legge was easily foremost in his specialty, the new Chinese scholarship will question his Christian bias and his principle of being dominated by certain commentaries which are not impartial reflections of the mind of the early authors and editors. Higher criticism of the modern type could not exist until the Imperial ban upon heresy was removed from scholars in 1905. The time has come when Chu Fu-tzii is dead indeed and when Confucianism will take the place of Chucianism ; when Buddhist and Taoist canons can be freely discussed by the combined scholarship of literati of every school. Occidental uni- versities and scholars earnestly desire the Ex Oriente Lua of the proverb. And we shall be the more ready to receive it if the light is projected through a three-sided prism of China’s combined and co-operating religious leadership, manipulated honestly and interpreted by men whose scholarship is at once occidental and oriental and whose Christian motive is manifest through its very impartiality and utter fairness. These suggestions will meet with at least four clamant objections which must be stated. (1) ‘ They leave out of account the time element ; and as such a scheme calls for a large amount of it, nothing can be done.’ True as this statement is, it should be remembered that every earnest missionary already has more than he can do. As a wise steward of time, he has made his choices and has divided up his scanty supply among those tasks which seem most important, leaving many things undone. The question arises whether for many workers such knowledge and such endeavours are not a better expenditure of time than is some of the work already planned. It surely is very important that we should know as well as possible our constituency religiously, and that is what we are here advocating. (2) ‘As here admitted, these literatures are so volu- minous that one does not know what portions to select.’ 248 International Review of Missions Very true; yet if anthologies with annotations and other aids were prepared by the collaboration of the best authorities upon the Chinese and Christian sacred writings this objection would be removed. (3) ‘ The Three Religions of China are already mori- bund; why not ignore them, or if they display signs of life, let sleeping dogs lie ? ’ For a millennium China’s religions have been inert. Yet perhaps for a century and more they have not exhibited the same vitality that is now manifested, and certainly they have not been as open to approach as at .present. (4) Many will point back to past attempts to help these various religionists, plans that seem to have mis- carried or failed utterly. But surely this is not wholly true. Dr Richard and the Christian Literature Society have justified themselves fully; and China owes a great debt to them, both religiously and otherwise. So, in a somewhat different way, the Chinese have been greatly enlightened, from Ricci’s time down to the present, by the work done by Romanists in the realm of literature and science, intended originally for the Confucian literati, but under Dor6, Wieger, Zottoli and Couvreur most helpful in enabling the Occident to look within the veil of Chinese religion and superstition. Even granting that some widely proclaimed schemes for winning nations through making a large use of native canons and beliefs do not produce ‘ converts by the million,’ why should not all earnest workers attempt in a simpler and more humble fashion to labour, along the lines of a pedagogical and scriptural method, to win these seekers after an unknown God in the Pauline way of adaptation to all men ? HARLANP. BEACH