This  religion  foimd  its  way  into  the  empire  of
China  during  the  reign  of  the  house  of  Han,  and
perhaps  even  before  that  time.  It  was  more  par-
ticularly the  Mahay  ana  form  of  Buddhism  that
entered  China,  i.  e,,  "the  great  or  broad  way"  to
salvation,  which  claimed  to  lead  all  beings  what-
ever, even  animals  and  devils,  through  several
stages  of  perfection  unto  the  very  highest  stage  of
holiness,  that  of  the  buddhas  or  gods  of  Univer-
sal Light,  equivalent  to  absorption  in  universal
Nothingness  {Nirvana) .  This  '  *  Broad  Way ' '  could
be  trodden  by  following  a  religious  discipline,  con-
sisting principally  of  asceticism  and  self -mortifica-
tion. Accordingly,  it  bore  a  striking  resemblance
to  the  "  Tao  of  Man, "  which,  as  we  know,  by  anni-
hilating the  passions,  led  to  wu  wei  or  to  that
nothingness  of  action  which  the  Universe  itself
displays.  The  two  systems  perfectly  coalesced —
they  met  harmoniously ;  Buddhism  might  consider


142   Development  of  Religion  in  China


its  road  into  China  to  have  been  paved  by  Taoism.
It  adopted  the  word  Tao,  which  means  "way,"
to  denote  its  own  way  to  salvation;  and,  on  the
other  hand,  Taoism  held  that  Buddhism  was
preached  in  India  by  Lao-tsze  himself,  who  jour-
neyed for  this  purpose  to  the  west  and  never
returned.  The  fusion  was  greatly  furthered  by
the  universalistic  and  syncretic  spirit  of  the  Maha-
yana,  which,  while  imperatively  insisting  on  effort
for  the  salvation  of  all  beings,  and  the  increase  of
means  leading  to  that  great  end,  allotted,  with
almost  perfect  tolerance,  a  place  in  its  system  to
the  Tao  of  the  Taoists.
