Nirvana : a Story of Buddhist Philosophy, by Paul Carus
(illus- trated and printed by T. Hasegawa, Tokyo, Japan, for the Open
Court Publishing Company, Chicago) ; and Karma (same author and publisher).—Both these little books are stories treating of the transmigration of the soul and the philosophy of Buddha. The scene of the first one is in a Brahman village in Northern Central India, and reminds one of parts of Mr. Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Books." There is a charming account of a wedding ceremony, after which the wise men discourse of the Tathigata as taught by Amuruddha, a wandering disciple of Buddha. They begin by calling his teaching heretical, but turn to it after a time as the only way of attaining happiness. The name of the second book is explained near the beginning in this way by a samana, or holy man : " A man's karma consists of all the deeds, both good and evil, that he has done in his present and in any prior existence." Thus a rich jeweller on his way to Benares, first kindly gives the samana a lift in his carriage, and then rudely upsets a farmer's rice-cart that was blocking his way ; the consequences of these two actions follow him to his death-bed. The illustrations to both stories are very beautiful, and as the artist is also the printer, he has arranged his letterpress so as to harmonise with his pictures. There is a delightful one of a youth leaving his plough and oxen to run after a hare, while a wise man looks gravely on. On the cover of Nirvana there is a charming picture of men, women, and animals surrounding a Buddha. The monkey sitting in the foreground trying to look good is particularly attractive. The cover of Karma, representing a robber-tribe dashing down a steep mountain pass to attack a merchant's escort, recalls the accounts of the Frontier War. We have here a very good example of the peculiar art of Japanese colour-printing in books, and as far as colour and decorative effect go, it would be hard to equal it. But to Western eyes the artist entirely fails to produce a beautiful human face. For instance, the general effect of the picture of Buddha giving hope to the robber in hell, is splendid and full of suggestion, but the faces are absurd as well as ugly. An added charm to these books to some minds will be the characteristic Japanese binding and smell.
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