ABSTRACT
Shingaku as a doctrine was an eclecticism, aiming at uniting the moral teachings of all the religions and ethical systems prevailing in Japan, tempering them with the general principles of humanitarian ethics and mental culture. The negative task was supplemented by showing the fundamental identity of all religions and exhorting the people to the practice of the ethical truths underlying de nominational differences. The popular teachers worked among the merchants and instructed them by lectures and writings, persuasive in tone and easy and intelligible to all men and women. The Hotoku teaching emphasized energy and work for the agricultural population, while the Shingaku movement was eminent in inculcating peace and submission, as the merchant class had to live an orderly life within prescribed limits. The activity of Buddhists in this long reign of peace was of two kinds, one the learned work of elaborating doctrinal systems, and the other the practical work of popular preaching.
