In dedicating to you this exposition of the bare essentials of the Mahayana philosophy, I feel that I must explain something of its scope and aim. In its original form the present work was part of a thesis which when presented to the Japanese cathedral, the Nishi Honganji, secured mo~my Buddhist degree, and an honorary ordination as a Buddhist priest. In consequence I hope that it may be considered to represent, as far as it goes, what the Japanese Buddhists believe to be true, and what they consider accurate. In presenting the book in a new dress before the Western public, a good deal of revision has taken place, but this has been chie?y a matter of omission and simplification. All technical details have been deleted, and any unusual idea or term has had placed after it a few words of elementary elucidation.