CHAPTER III NOTES.

[36] No efforts have yet been made systematically to trace the history of the development of the Mahâyâna thoughts in India as well as in China and Japan. We have enough material at least to follow the general course it has taken, as far as the Chinese and Tibetan collections of Tripitaka are concerned. When a thorough comparison by impartial, unprejudiced scholars of these documents has been made with the Pali and Sanskrit literature, then we shall be able to write a comprehensive history of the human thoughts that have governed the Oriental people during the last two thousand years. When this is done, the result can further be compared with the history of other religious systems, thus throwing much light on the general evolution of humanity.

[37] _Prajñâ_, _bodhi_, _buddhi_, _vidyâ_ and _jñâ_ or _jñâna_ are all synonymous and in many cases interchangeable. But they allow a finer discrimination. Speaking in a general way, _prajñâ_ is reason, _bodhi_ wisdom or intelligence, _buddhi_ enlightenment, _vidyâ_ ideality or knowledge, and _jñâ_ or _jñâna_ intellect. Of these five terms, _prajñâ_ and _bodhi_ are essentially Buddhistic and have acquired technical meaning, In this work both _prajñâ_ and _bodhi_ are mostly translated by intelligence, for their extent of meaning closely overlaps each other. But this is rather vague, and wherever I thought the term intelligence alone to be misleading, I either left the originals untranslated, or inserted them in parentheses. To be more exact, _prajñâ_ in many cases can safely be rendered by faith, not a belief in revealed truths, but a sort of immediate knowledge gained by intuitive intelligence. _Prajñâ_ corresponds in some respects to wisdom, meaning the foundation of all reasonings and experiences. It may also be considered an equivalent for Greek _sophia_. Bodhi, on the other hand, has a decidedly religious and moral significance. Besides being _prajñâ_ itself, it is also love (_karunâ_): for, according to Buddhism, these two, _prajñâ_ and _karunâ_, constitute the essence of Bodhi. May Bodhi be considered in some respects synonymous with the divine wisdom as understood by Christian dogmatists? But there is something in the Buddhist notion of Bodhi that cannot properly be expressed by wisdom or intelligence. This seems to be due to the difference of philosophical interpretation by Buddhists and Christians of the conception of God. It will become clearer as we proceed farther.