51 inseparable unit, and this is characteristic of his way of seeing the world. In the second part, “The State and Buddhism,” Enryō raises the question of whether Christianity or Buddhism is the most appro-priate religion for Japan, concluding that it is the latter. He argues that because Japan is the only country where Buddhism is still flour-ishing it should export it to the world. Furthermore, he states that Christianity is not compatible with Japanese culture. In the third part, “Buddhism and Truth,” he outlines the philosophical and religious parts of Buddhism and explains that the philosophical part is con-sistent with the truths expounded by Western philosophy. Thus, the central themes of Prolegomena to a Living Discourse on Bud-dhism are nation, Buddhism, and truth—and the book argues that these are organically connected. The book argues that Buddhism is not only a teaching that benefits the nation of Japan but is also an excellent teaching in its own right that is consistent with the truths of Western philosophy. In the foreword Enryō is scathing in his crit-icism of the Buddhist world of his day. Today, Buddhism is practiced by ignorant people and handed down by uneducated monks so there are many bad practices and on a superficial level the teachings are barbaric. For this reason, Buddhism is decaying day by day. This is something I greatly lament, and I want to protect this teaching for the sake of the truth, and at minimum remedy its harmful effects for the sake of the nation. and improve it in collaboration with the monks of today. The However, it would be a waste of time to try and preserve majority of them have neither the knowledge nor the willpower
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