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Thus heavily laden, warders and bonzes alike returned to the prison, and held a feast. The priests succeeded in making their warders drunk. In the middle of the night they drew forth their weapons and, having first set each other free, proceeded to force the gates. They might perhaps have escaped altogether; but in their rancour against the Governor they went first to attack the yamen.
An unbending ascetic, indeed, was the grey-bearded Klan Hua, and the ruler of the country had already promised to him that he should become the head of the bonzes whenever the office was vacated.
This is 306 ft. long by 174 ft. wide, and consists of a series of courts surrounded by colonnades and cells for the bonzes or priests. In the centre of the courtyard is a series of pavilions or temples connected by passages, and devoted to the worship of the idols contained in them.
In Japan, with the spirit of Alva and Philip II., these believers in the righteousness of the Inquisition attacked violently the character of native bonzes, and incited their converts to insult the gods, destroy the Buddhist images, and burn or desecrate the old shrines. Whole districts were ordered to become Christian.
They discharged, on account of the senior ministers, the duties of scribes, and were presided over by a todori, who, in later days, wielded large influence. The jisha-bugyo, as their name suggests, supervised all affairs relating to shrines, temples, Shinto officials, bonzes, and nuns as well as persons residing within the domains of shrines and temples.
By this means the bonzes were soon enabled to call Buddhism "the people's religion," and to secure the resources of the national treasury as an aid to their temple and monastery building, and for the erection of those images and wayside shrines on which so many millions of dollars have been lavished.
Why is life still loved by this crowd of Indians deceived and enslaved by the bonzes, crushed by a Tartar's descendants, overburdened with work, groaning in want, assailed by disease, exposed to every scourge? Whence comes evil, and why does evil exist? O atoms of a day!
The destruction of these powerful sectaries was, therefore, one of the great purposes of his life. Nobunaga had other reasons than these for destroying the power of the bonzes. During the long period of the Ashikagas these cunning ecclesiastics had risen to great power. Their monasteries had become fortresses, with moats and strong stone walls.
A dozen bonzes, or priests, were sitting round in a circle, chanting monotonously from ponderous volumes, with an occasional accompaniment from a gong or drum. Incense was being burned, vestments worn, processions formed, and prayers offered to Buddha to intercede with the Supreme Being.
The bonzes were exiled or killed, and fire and sword as well as preaching, were employed as means of conversion. In ready imitation of the Buddhists, fictitious miracles were frequently got up to utilize the credulity of the superstitious in furthering the faith all of which is related not by hostile critics, but by admiring historians and by sympathizing eye-witnesses.
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