action of two classes of deities, each of whom has his or her own particular function. But deities are, after all, like men. None are wholly bad or wholly good. A benevolent deity, if angered, may send a curse, and an evil deity, on the other hand, may occasionally dispense blessings. Moreover, an action of the gods which is indifferent in itself may be good or bad, according to the object affected. The hot sun, which delights the cicada, scorches the worm.
The efficacy of prayer and the nature of sacrifices are next discussed.
To the question, "Is a pious Shinto believer to worship Buddha?" Hirata replies in the affirmative. He quotes a verse of Motoöri's to the effect that "Shaka and Confucius are also Kami [gods], and their way is a branch of the way of the Kami." That this is really the case is proved, he says, by the Buddhist miracles which have been worked in Japan as in other countries. Moreover, everything which takes place in this world being ordered by the Kami, Buddhism too must be in accordance with their will. Hirata, in short, wants to turn the tables on the Buddhists, and, in revenge for their giving the Shinto deities a subordinate place in their theological system, proposes to make Buddha a sort of inferior Kami.
Hirata believed in the immortality of the soul, and takes pains to prove that Confucius did so also. "If the dead are non-existent," he argues, "what meaning can there be in the worship of ancestors, and how shall we account for the undoubted fact that dead men send curses upon those who have injured them while alive?"
The Koshi Seibun, which with its dependent works the Koshi-chō and Koshi-den constitute Hirata's chief claim to
