The Heritage of Asia by Kenneth SaundersReview by: A. Eustace HaydonJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Mar., 1934), pp. 103-104Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/594335 .

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HIaydon, The Heritage of Asia 103

of Fetes et Chansons lines 1-3: "Cette piece est tres difficile a comprendre. Je ne presente qu'avec d'expresses reserves la traduc- tion qu'on a lue et l'essai d'interpr6tation qui suit." To put it succinctly, Granet has said that possibly the whole of Appendix I is to be rejected.

JAMES R. WARE. Harvard University.

The Heritage of Asia. By KENNETH SAUNDERS. New York: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 1932. Pp. 224.

All of Dr. Saunders' published works are colored by two charac- teristic qualities, a sincere love of the Orient which leads him at times to extravagant idealization, and a longing to see Asia accept Christianity which makes him, perhaps unconsciously, select for special emphasis those phases of the Oriental pattern which best harmonize with his idealization of the Christian truth. He writes not as a detached, scholarly observer but as an enthusiast and evaluator, not as a scientist but as an ambassador of intercultural appreciation and goodwill. Certainly no one can doubt the im- portance of this function in the modern age, however much he may prize critical and detached scholarship.

In this book, Gupta India, T'ang China, and Nara Japan are singled out for special stress as illustrative of the flowering points of the several cultures. An introductory chapter on Asiatic history gives a brief glimpse of the social structures and religious orienta- tion of India and China but not of Japan. This is followed by an exposition of Indian and Chinese cultures as the heritage of the past came to expression in the two great epochs. The treatment of the heritage of Japan is interrupted by a section on Sdkyamuni, Confucius, and Shotoku as embodiments of the spirit of Asia, a few pages on Korea's heritage, and then continued in a description of the Nara age when the synthesis of the gifts of the continent came to fruition in Japan. The author concludes his interpretation of the past heritages with a brief description of three great scrip- tures: the Analects, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Lotus of the Good Law. A final chapter is devoted to an appreciation of an out- standing modern leader in each of the three lands-Mahatma Gandhi, lu Shih, and Toyohiko Kagawa.

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104 Reviews of Books

Dr. Saunders devotes most of his attention to the religious and artistic elements in the heritage of Asia with only incidental refer- ence to the social-economic ground-work of the three cultures. Schematically he characterizes their unity in difference-" India has been more concerned with the mystical than the ethical, with the beauty of the unseen mind at play in the universe; China has looked more to the beauty of human relations and the embodiment of cosmic harmony in society; Japan has blent these emphases in her romantic cult of the, Emperor and her religious nationalism which sees her as the land of the Kami." In closing his apprecia- tion of the mission of Buddhism in the East, he links it with that of Christianity in a characteristic way: " It is all to the good that both religions teach peace and good will among men. Upon mutual respect and understanding we may yet build a new world. What would not a really Christian West achieve in co-operation with a really Buddhist East? And if in the Providence of God both become truly Christian then is his kingdom accomplished upon earth ".

The last 50 pages are devoted to illustrative readings drawn from ancient and modern sources of the three cultural areas. There is a bibliography but no index.

A. EUSTACE HAYDON. The University of Chicago.

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