On Repaying Debts of Gratitude / WND pg. 690 (continued)
On Repaying Debts of Gratitude / WND pg. 690 (continued)
Let us turn now to the Great Teacher Kobo. At the time of the great drought in the second month of the first year of Tencho (824), the emperor ordered Shubin to pray for rain, and within seven days Shubin was able to make rain fall. But the rain fell only in the capital and did not extend to the countryside.
Kobo was then ordered to take over the prayers for rain, but seven days passed and there was no sign of it. Another seven days passed and there still were no clouds. After seven more days had passed, the emperor ordered Wake no Matsuna to go and present offerings in Shinsen'en garden, (85) whereupon rain fell from the sky for a period of three days. The Great Teacher Kobo and his disciples thereupon proceeded to appropriate this rain and claim it as their own, and for more than four hundred years now, it has been known as "Kobo's rain."
The Great Teacher Jikaku said he had a dream in which he shot down the sun. And the Great Teacher Kobo told a great falsehood, claiming that, in the spring of the ninth year of the Konin era (818), when he was praying for an end to the great epidemic, the sun came out in the middle of the night.
Since the kalpa of formation, when the earth took shape, down to the (86) ninth period of decrease in the kalpa of continuance, twenty-nine kalpas have passed by, but in all that time, the sun has never been known to come out at night! As to the Great Teacher Jikaku's dream of the sun, where in all the five thousand or seven thousand volumes of the Buddhist scriptures or the three thousand or more volumes of the Confucian and Taoist scriptures is it recorded that to dream of shooting the sun is auspicious? The king of the asuras, angered at the deity Shakra, shot an arrow at the sun god, but the arrow came back and struck the king (87) himself in the eye. King Chou of the Yin dynasty used the sun as a target for his arrows, and in the end he was destroyed.
In Japan, in the reign of Emperor Jimmu, the emperor's elder brother Itsuse no Mikoto engaged in battle (88) with the chieftain of Tomi, and Itsuse no Mikoto was wounded in the hand by an arrow. He said, "I am a descendant of the sun deity. But because I have drawn my bow while facing the sun, I have incurred this punishment from the sun deity."
In India, King Ajatashatru renounced his earlier mistaken views and became a follower of the Buddha. He returned to his palace and lay down to sleep, but later rose up in alarm and said to his ministers, "I have dreamed that the sun has left the sky and fallen to the earth!" His ministers said, "Perhaps this means the passing away of the (89) Buddha." Subhadra also had the same kind of dream just before the Buddha passed away.
It would be particularly inauspicious to dream [as Jikaku claims he did] of shooting the sun in Japan, since the supreme deity in Japan is the Sun Goddess, and the name of the country, Japan, means "source of the sun." In addition, Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, is called Sun Seed because his mother, Lady Maya, dreamed that she conceived the sun and in time gave birth to this child, the crown prince.
The Great Teacher Jikaku established the Thus Come One Mahavairochana as the object of devotion on Mount Hiei and rejected Shakyamuni Buddha. He paid honor to the three True Word sutras and acted as an enemy to the Lotus Sutra and its two companion sutras. That was no doubt the reason why he dreamed this dream of shooting the sun.
On the subject of dreams, there is also the case of the priest Shan-tao in China. In his youth he met a priest (90) named Ming-sheng of Mi-chou and received instruction in the Lotus Sutra. Later, however, when he met Tao-ch'o, he threw aside the Lotus Sutra and put all his trust in the Meditation Sutra. He even wrote a commentary on the sutra, which asserted that with the Lotus Sutra, not even one person in a thousand can be saved, whereas the Nembutsu practice insures that ten persons out of ten and a hundred persons out of a hundred will be reborn in the Pure Land. In order to prove his point, he prayed before Amida Buddha to confirm whether or not his views accorded with the Buddha's intent. His commentary says, "Every night in a dream a priest would appear and tell me what to write," and "Therefore, this commentary should be regarded with the same respect as the sutra itself." It also says, "The Teaching on Meditation Sutra should also be revered as though it were a sutra."
The Lotus Sutra says, "If there are those who hear the Law, then not a (91) one will fail to attain Buddhahood." But Shan-tao says that not even one in (92) a thousand will be saved. The Lotus Sutra and Shan-tao are as different as fire is from water. Shan-tao says that with the Meditation Sutra ten persons out of ten and a hundred persons out of a hundred will be reborn in the Pure Land. But in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra the Buddha says that in the Meditation Sutra "I have not yet revealed the truth." The Immeasurable Meanings Sutra and this priest of the (93) Willow Tree are as far apart as heaven and earth.
In view of this, can we really believe that Amida Buddha took the form of a priest and appeared to Shan-tao in dreams to assure him that his commentary represented the truth? Was not Amida among those present when the Lotus Sutra was preached, and did he not extend his tongue along with the other Buddhas and testify to the truth of the sutra? Were his attendants, the bodhisattvas Perceiver of the World's Sounds and Great Power, not also present when the Lotus Sutra was preached? The answers to these questions are obvious, and in like manner, if we stop to think of it, we can see that Jikaku's dream was a portent of evil.
Question: The Great Teacher Kobo in his Secret Key to the Heart Sutra writes: "In the spring of the ninth year of Konin, the empire was troubled by a great plague. Thereupon the emperor in person dipped his writing brush in gold, took a piece of dark blue paper in his hand, and wrote out a copy of the Heart Sutra in one roll. I had been appointed by the ruler to lecture on the Heart Sutra. Having compiled my explanations of its meaning, I [was delivering the lecture but] had not yet reached my concluding remarks, when those who had recovered from the plague began to fill the streets of the capital. Moreover, when night came, the sun continued to shine bright and red.
"This was certainly not the result of any virtuous observance of the precepts on the part of an ignorant person like myself, but was due rather to the power of faith manifested by the sovereign (94) as the gold-wheel-turning king. Nevertheless, those who go to pray at the shrines of the gods should recite this commentary of mine. For I was present long ago at Eagle Peak when the Buddha preached the Heart Sutra, and I personally heard him expound its profound doctrines. How, then, could I fail to understand its meaning?"
Again in the work entitled The Annotations on the Peacock Sutra, we read: "After the Great Teacher Kobo returned from China, he desired to establish the True Word school in Japan, and representatives of all the various schools were summoned to the imperial court. But many of them had doubts about the True Word doctrine of the attaining of Buddhahood in one's present form. The great teacher thereupon formed his hands in the wisdom mudra and faced south. Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahavairochana - that is, he reverted to his original form. In this way he demonstrated that the Buddha is present in the individual and that the individual is present in the Buddha, and that one can immediately attain Buddhahood in one's present form. On that day, all doubts concerning the matter were completely resolved, and from that (95) time the True Word, or Yoga, school with its doctrines of secret mandalas was established."
The same work also says: "At this time the students of the other schools all bowed to the opinion of the Great Teacher Kobo and for the first time received instruction in the True Word doctrines, sought their benefit, and practiced them. Dosho of the Three Treatises school, Gennin of the Dharma (96) Characteristics school, Doyu of the Flower Garland school, and Encho of the Tendai school were all among those who did so."
In addition, the biography of the Great Teacher Kobo states: "On the day when he set out by ship from China, he voiced a prayer, saying, 'If there is a spot that is particularly suitable for the teaching of these doctrines that I have learned, may this three-pronged diamond-pounder land there!' Then he faced in the direction of Japan and threw the diamond-pounder up into the air. It sailed far away and disappeared among the clouds. In the tenth month, he returned to Japan."
The same work states: "He journeyed to the foot of Mount Koya and determined to establish his place of meditation there . . . and later it was discovered that the three-pronged diamond-pounder that he had thrown out over the sea was there on the mountain."
It is clear from these two or three incidents that the Great Teacher Kobo was a person of inestimable power and virtue. Since he was a person of such great power, why do you say that one should not believe in his teachings, and that anyone who does so will fall into the Avichi hell?
Answer: I, too, admire and believe in these various accomplishments of his. There are other men of old who possessed such uncanny powers. But the possession of such power does not indicate whether that person's understanding of the Buddhist teaching is correct or not. Among the non-Buddhist believers of India there have been men who could pour all the waters of the Ganges River into their ear and keep it there for twelve years, or those who could drink the ocean dry, grasp the sun and moon in their hands, or change the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha into oxen or sheep. But such powers only made them more arrogant than ever and caused them to create further karma to confine themselves in the sufferings of birth and death. It is men like these whom T'ien-t'ai is referring to when he says, "They seek after fame and profit and increase their (97) illusions of thought and desire."
The Chinese priest Fa-yün of Kuang-che-ssu temple could make it rain suddenly or cause flowers to bloom immediately, but Miao-lo writes of him, "Though he could bring about a response in this way, his understanding still did not accord with the truth [of (98) the Lotus Sutra]." When the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai read the Lotus Sutra, soft rain began to fall in an instant, and the Great Teacher Dengyo caused sweet rain to fall within the space of three days. However, they did not say that because of such powers their understanding of the truth coincided with that of the Buddha.
Regardless of what unusual powers the Great Teacher Kobo may have had, he described the Lotus Sutra as a doctrine of childish theory and wrote that Shakyamuni Buddha was still in the region of darkness. Persons of wisdom and understanding should have nothing to do with such writings.
Say what you may, there are surely doubtful points in the accounts of Kobo's powers you have just cited. The text says, "In the spring of the ninth year of Konin, the empire was troubled by a great plague." But spring is ninety (99) days long. On which day of which month of spring did this happen? This is the first doubtful point.
Secondly, was there in fact an outbreak of plague in the ninth year of Konin?
Thirdly, the text says, "When night came, the sun continued to shine bright and red." If it really did so, then this is an occurrence of major importance. During the ninth year of Konin, Emperor Saga reigned. But did the court (100) historians of the left and right record any such event?
Even if they had, it would be difficult to believe. During the twenty kalpas of the kalpa of formation and nine kalpas of the kalpa of continuance, a total of twenty-nine kalpas, never once has such a thing occurred. What then is this about the sun appearing in the middle of the night? In all the sacred teachings expounded by the Thus Come One Shakyamuni during his lifetime, there is no mention of any such thing. And in the Three Records and the Five Canons of China, which describe the three sovereigns and five emperors of antiquity, there is no prediction that at some future date the sun will come out in the middle of the night. In the scriptures of Buddhism, we are told that, in the kalpa of decline, two suns, three suns, or even seven suns will appear, but these will appear in the daytime, not at night. And if the sun should appear at night in our own region, the continent of Jambudvipa in the south, then what about the other three regions of the east, west, and north?
Regardless of what the Buddhist scriptures or the secular works may have to say about such an event, if in fact there were some entry in the daily records of the courtiers, the other families of the capital, or the priests of Mount Hiei saying that in the spring of the ninth year of Konin, in such and such a month, on such and such a day, at such and such an hour of the night the sun appeared, then we might perhaps believe it. [But no such record exists.]
Later, the text says, "I was present long ago at Eagle Peak when the Buddha preached the Heart Sutra, and I personally heard him expound its profound doctrines." This is surely a wild falsehood that is intended to make people have faith in his commentary. If not, are we to believe that at Eagle Peak the Buddha announced that the Lotus Sutra was a piece of childish theory and that the Mahavairochana Sutra represented the truth, and that Ananda and Manjushri were simply mistaken in saying that the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law represents the truth?
As for making it rain, even a woman who was licentious and a priest who (101) was a breaker of the precepts were able by their poems to cause rain to fall. Yet Kobo prayed for twenty-one days and still it did not rain, so what sort of powers could he have possessed? This is the fourth doubtful point.
On the Peacock Sutra states, "The great teacher [Kobo] thereupon formed his hands in the wisdom mudra and faced south. Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahavairochana." Now in what year of the reign of what ruler did this happen?
In China from the time of the Chien-yüan era (140-134 BCE), and in Japan from the time of the Taiho era (701-704), among the records of events kept by priests and the laity, those of important occurrences have always been accompanied by the name of the era in which they took place. With an event as important as that described, why then is there no mention of who the ruler was, who his high ministers were, what the name of the era was, or what day and hour the event took place?
The passage goes on to list "Dosho of the Three Treatises school, Gennin of the Dharma Characteristics school, Doyu of the Flower Garland school, and Encho of the Tendai school" [as those who learned the True Word doctrines from Kobo]. Encho is known posthumously as the Great Teacher Jakko and was the second chief priest of the Tendai school. Now at that time, why was Gishin, the first chief priest, or the Great Teacher Dengyo, the founder of the school, not invited to be present? Encho, the second chief priest of the Tendai school, was a disciple of the Great Teacher Dengyo and also became a disciple of the Great Teacher Kobo. Rather than inviting a disciple or rather than inviting men of the Three Treatises, Dharma Characteristics, and Flower Garland schools, why did Kobo not invite the two most important men of the Tendai school, Dengyo and Gishin?
Speaking of the time when these men were invited, On the Peacock Sutra states, "From that time the True Word, or Yoga, school with its doctrines of secret mandalas was established." This would seem to refer to a time when both Dengyo and Gishin were still alive. From the second year of Daido (807), in the reign of Emperor Heizei, until the thirteenth year of Konin (822) [when Dengyo died], Kobo was very active in spreading the True Word doctrines, and during this period both Dengyo and Gishin were still alive. Moreover, Gishin lived on until the tenth year of Tencho (833). Had Kobo's True Word teachings not been spread by that time? The whole matter is very strange.
On the Peacock Sutra was written by (102) Shinzei, a disciple of Kobo, and therefore it is difficult to trust what it says. Is it likely that a person of such deluded views would have troubled to read the writings of the courtiers, the other important families, or Encho on which to base his account? One should also check the writings of Dosho, Gennin, and Doyu to see if they have anything to say on the matter.
The text says, "Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahavairochana." What does it mean by the expression "his mouth opened"? The writer probably intended to write the characters meaning the "area between the (103) eye-brows," but he mistakenly wrote those for "mouth" instead. Because he wrote a book of fabrications, he quite likely made mistakes of this kind.
The whole passage says: "The great teacher thereupon formed his hands in the wisdom mudra and faced south. Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahavairochana."
Now in the fifth volume of the Nirvana Sutra we read: "Kashyapa spoke to the Buddha, saying: 'World-Honored One, I will no longer depend upon the four ranks of sages. Why is this? Because in the Ghoshila Sutra that the Buddha preached for the sake (104) of Ghoshila, it is said that the devil king in heaven, because he is determined to try to destroy the Buddhist teachings, will turn himself into the likeness of a Buddha. He will have all the thirty-two features and eighty characteristics of a Buddha, will be solemn and imposing in appearance, and a round halo of light will radiate from him ten feet in all directions. His face will be round and full like the moon at its fullest and brightest, and the tuft of white hair in between his eyebrows will be whiter than snow. . . . From his left side will come water, and from his right side will come fire.'"
Again, in the sixth volume of the Nirvana Sutra, it is recorded: "The Buddha announced to Kashyapa: 'After I have passed into nirvana . . . this devil king Papiyas will in time try to destroy the correct teaching of mine. . . . He will change his form into that of an arhat or a Buddha. The devil king, though still subject to illusion, will assume the form of one who has been freed from illusion, and will try to destroy the correct teaching of mine.'"
The Great Teacher Kobo declared that, in comparison to the Flower Garland and Mahavairochana sutras, the Lotus Sutra was a piece of childish theory. And this same man, we are told, appeared in the form of a Buddha. He must be the devil who, as the Nirvana Sutra states, will change his shape, which is still subject to illusion, into that of a Buddha and attempt to destroy the correct teaching of Shakyamuni.
This "correct teaching" referred to in the Nirvana Sutra is the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, we find later on in the Nirvana Sutra the statement "It has already been a long time since I attained Buddhahood." The text also says, "[When this sutra was preached . . . the prediction had already been made] in the Lotus Sutra [that the eight thousand voice-hearers would attain Buddhahood]."
Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions declared with regard to the various sutras that the Lotus Sutra represents the truth; the Mahavairochana and all the other sutras do not represent the truth. Yet the Great Teacher Kobo appeared in the form of a Buddha and announced that, compared to the Flower Garland and Mahavairochana sutras, the Lotus Sutra is a piece of childish theory. If the words of the Buddha are true, then Kobo must be none other than the devil king in heaven, must he not?
Again, the matter of the three-pronged diamond-pounder appears to be particularly suspicious. It would be difficult to believe even if a Chinese [who had not known the circumstances] had come to Japan and happened to dig up the pounder. Surely someone must have been sent earlier to bury it in that particular spot. Since Kobo was a Japanese, he could have arranged such a thing. There are many such wild and absurd stories associated with his name. Such incidents hardly lend support to the assertion that his teachings accord with the will of the Buddha.
Notes:
85. Shinsen'en was a garden established by Emperor Kammu within the imperial palace in Kyoto. It was the site of a large pond where prayers for rain were performed. According to Genko Era Biographies, a dragon lived in this pond, and when it made an appearance, rain would fall. Matsuna's offerings were made to this dragon.
86. "The ninth period of decrease" cor-responds to the present age. See kalpa of continuance in Glossary.
87. A dissolute ruler who was conquered by King Wu of the Chou dynasty. According to Records of the Historian, he had a human figure made and called it a heavenly god, and caused people to treat it with contempt. Moreover, it is said that he shot arrows at a leather bag filled with blood, claiming that he had shot the god of the sun.
88. The chieftain of Tomi refers to Nagasunebiko, a powerful local leader in Yamato. According to The Chronicles of Japan, Jimmu, the legendary first emperor, proceeded southward to invade the Yamato region, where he was engaged in battle by Nagasunebiko and driven back.
89. The last convert of Shakyamuni Buddha. According to The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, he had a dream in which all people were deprived of their eyesight and left standing naked in the darkness, whereupon the sun fell from the sky, the earth cracked, the seas ran dry, and Mount Sumeru was toppled by a great wind. In the morning, being told that the Buddha would enter nirvana before the next day, he went to Shakyamuni and joined the Order, and that night attained the state of arhat.
90. Ming-sheng (n.d.) was a priest of the Three Treatises school during the T'ang dynasty. He was a disciple of Fa-lang, and Chia-hsiang was one of his fellow priests.
91. Lotus Sutra, chap. 2.
92. Praising Rebirth in the Pure Land.
93. "This priest of the Willow Tree" refers to Shan-tao, who was so called because he is said to have attempted to commit suicide by hanging himself from a branch of a willow tree in front of the temple where he lived in hopes of going to the Pure Land. However, either the rope or the willow branch broke, and he fell to the ground. He died a week later in torment from his injuries.
94. One of the four types of wheel-turning kings. The king who rules all the four continents surrounding Mount Sumeru.
95. Yoga (Skt), or "union," is another name for the True Word school. Esoteric Buddhism stresses the union of the body, voice, and mind of common mortals with those of Mahavairochana Buddha. In terms of practice, mudras represent the body, mantras, the voice, and meditation on mandalas, the mind.
96. Dosho (799-875) first studied the Three Treatises doctrines but later became a follower of Kobo. Gennin (818-887) first studied the Dharma Characteristics doctrines but later studied the esoteric teachings under Shinga. In 885, he became the chief priest of To-ji temple. Doyu (d. 851) first studied the Dharma Characteristics teachings but later turned to the Flower Garland doctrines. He became the seventh patriarch of the Flower Garland school.
97. The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra.
98. The Annotations on "The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra."
99. The ninety-day period from the beginning of the first month through the end of the third. In the lunar calendar, the first day of the first month was regarded as the beginning of spring.
100. "Court historian" was an official position of the Grand Council of State. There were eight altogether: four of the left and four of the right. A historian of the left recorded events; a historian of the right recorded the words of the emperor.
101. A reference to the poet and court lady-in-waiting Izumi Shikibu (b. c. 976) and the priest Noin (b. 988), whose works include poems that express prayers for rain.
102. Shinzei (800-860) was a priest of the True Word school. He was granted the position of acharya, which qualifies one to transmit the secret doctrines of the True Word.
103. This implies one of the thirty-two features of a Buddha, a tuft of white hair between the eyebrows.
104. Ghoshila was a wealthy householder of Kaushambi, who built Ghoshilavana Monastery to invite Shakyamuni Buddha to preach.
(to be continued)
On Repaying Debts of Gratitude / WND pg. 690 (continued)
Let us turn now to the Great Teacher Kobo. At the time of the great drought in the second month of the first year of Tencho (824), the emperor ordered Shubin to pray for rain, and within seven days Shubin was able to make rain fall. But the rain fell only in the capital and did not extend to the countryside.
Kobo was then ordered to take over the prayers for rain, but seven days passed and there was no sign of it. Another seven days passed and there still were no clouds. After seven more days had passed, the emperor ordered Wake no Matsuna to go and present offerings in Shinsen'en garden, (85) whereupon rain fell from the sky for a period of three days. The Great Teacher Kobo and his disciples thereupon proceeded to appropriate this rain and claim it as their own, and for more than four hundred years now, it has been known as "Kobo's rain."
The Great Teacher Jikaku said he had a dream in which he shot down the sun. And the Great Teacher Kobo told a great falsehood, claiming that, in the spring of the ninth year of the Konin era (818), when he was praying for an end to the great epidemic, the sun came out in the middle of the night.
Since the kalpa of formation, when the earth took shape, down to the (86) ninth period of decrease in the kalpa of continuance, twenty-nine kalpas have passed by, but in all that time, the sun has never been known to come out at night! As to the Great Teacher Jikaku's dream of the sun, where in all the five thousand or seven thousand volumes of the Buddhist scriptures or the three thousand or more volumes of the Confucian and Taoist scriptures is it recorded that to dream of shooting the sun is auspicious? The king of the asuras, angered at the deity Shakra, shot an arrow at the sun god, but the arrow came back and struck the king (87) himself in the eye. King Chou of the Yin dynasty used the sun as a target for his arrows, and in the end he was destroyed.
In Japan, in the reign of Emperor Jimmu, the emperor's elder brother Itsuse no Mikoto engaged in battle (88) with the chieftain of Tomi, and Itsuse no Mikoto was wounded in the hand by an arrow. He said, "I am a descendant of the sun deity. But because I have drawn my bow while facing the sun, I have incurred this punishment from the sun deity."
In India, King Ajatashatru renounced his earlier mistaken views and became a follower of the Buddha. He returned to his palace and lay down to sleep, but later rose up in alarm and said to his ministers, "I have dreamed that the sun has left the sky and fallen to the earth!" His ministers said, "Perhaps this means the passing away of the (89) Buddha." Subhadra also had the same kind of dream just before the Buddha passed away.
It would be particularly inauspicious to dream [as Jikaku claims he did] of shooting the sun in Japan, since the supreme deity in Japan is the Sun Goddess, and the name of the country, Japan, means "source of the sun." In addition, Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, is called Sun Seed because his mother, Lady Maya, dreamed that she conceived the sun and in time gave birth to this child, the crown prince.
The Great Teacher Jikaku established the Thus Come One Mahavairochana as the object of devotion on Mount Hiei and rejected Shakyamuni Buddha. He paid honor to the three True Word sutras and acted as an enemy to the Lotus Sutra and its two companion sutras. That was no doubt the reason why he dreamed this dream of shooting the sun.
On the subject of dreams, there is also the case of the priest Shan-tao in China. In his youth he met a priest (90) named Ming-sheng of Mi-chou and received instruction in the Lotus Sutra. Later, however, when he met Tao-ch'o, he threw aside the Lotus Sutra and put all his trust in the Meditation Sutra. He even wrote a commentary on the sutra, which asserted that with the Lotus Sutra, not even one person in a thousand can be saved, whereas the Nembutsu practice insures that ten persons out of ten and a hundred persons out of a hundred will be reborn in the Pure Land. In order to prove his point, he prayed before Amida Buddha to confirm whether or not his views accorded with the Buddha's intent. His commentary says, "Every night in a dream a priest would appear and tell me what to write," and "Therefore, this commentary should be regarded with the same respect as the sutra itself." It also says, "The Teaching on Meditation Sutra should also be revered as though it were a sutra."
The Lotus Sutra says, "If there are those who hear the Law, then not a (91) one will fail to attain Buddhahood." But Shan-tao says that not even one in (92) a thousand will be saved. The Lotus Sutra and Shan-tao are as different as fire is from water. Shan-tao says that with the Meditation Sutra ten persons out of ten and a hundred persons out of a hundred will be reborn in the Pure Land. But in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra the Buddha says that in the Meditation Sutra "I have not yet revealed the truth." The Immeasurable Meanings Sutra and this priest of the (93) Willow Tree are as far apart as heaven and earth.
In view of this, can we really believe that Amida Buddha took the form of a priest and appeared to Shan-tao in dreams to assure him that his commentary represented the truth? Was not Amida among those present when the Lotus Sutra was preached, and did he not extend his tongue along with the other Buddhas and testify to the truth of the sutra? Were his attendants, the bodhisattvas Perceiver of the World's Sounds and Great Power, not also present when the Lotus Sutra was preached? The answers to these questions are obvious, and in like manner, if we stop to think of it, we can see that Jikaku's dream was a portent of evil.
Question: The Great Teacher Kobo in his Secret Key to the Heart Sutra writes: "In the spring of the ninth year of Konin, the empire was troubled by a great plague. Thereupon the emperor in person dipped his writing brush in gold, took a piece of dark blue paper in his hand, and wrote out a copy of the Heart Sutra in one roll. I had been appointed by the ruler to lecture on the Heart Sutra. Having compiled my explanations of its meaning, I [was delivering the lecture but] had not yet reached my concluding remarks, when those who had recovered from the plague began to fill the streets of the capital. Moreover, when night came, the sun continued to shine bright and red.
"This was certainly not the result of any virtuous observance of the precepts on the part of an ignorant person like myself, but was due rather to the power of faith manifested by the sovereign (94) as the gold-wheel-turning king. Nevertheless, those who go to pray at the shrines of the gods should recite this commentary of mine. For I was present long ago at Eagle Peak when the Buddha preached the Heart Sutra, and I personally heard him expound its profound doctrines. How, then, could I fail to understand its meaning?"
Again in the work entitled The Annotations on the Peacock Sutra, we read: "After the Great Teacher Kobo returned from China, he desired to establish the True Word school in Japan, and representatives of all the various schools were summoned to the imperial court. But many of them had doubts about the True Word doctrine of the attaining of Buddhahood in one's present form. The great teacher thereupon formed his hands in the wisdom mudra and faced south. Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahavairochana - that is, he reverted to his original form. In this way he demonstrated that the Buddha is present in the individual and that the individual is present in the Buddha, and that one can immediately attain Buddhahood in one's present form. On that day, all doubts concerning the matter were completely resolved, and from that (95) time the True Word, or Yoga, school with its doctrines of secret mandalas was established."
The same work also says: "At this time the students of the other schools all bowed to the opinion of the Great Teacher Kobo and for the first time received instruction in the True Word doctrines, sought their benefit, and practiced them. Dosho of the Three Treatises school, Gennin of the Dharma (96) Characteristics school, Doyu of the Flower Garland school, and Encho of the Tendai school were all among those who did so."
In addition, the biography of the Great Teacher Kobo states: "On the day when he set out by ship from China, he voiced a prayer, saying, 'If there is a spot that is particularly suitable for the teaching of these doctrines that I have learned, may this three-pronged diamond-pounder land there!' Then he faced in the direction of Japan and threw the diamond-pounder up into the air. It sailed far away and disappeared among the clouds. In the tenth month, he returned to Japan."
The same work states: "He journeyed to the foot of Mount Koya and determined to establish his place of meditation there . . . and later it was discovered that the three-pronged diamond-pounder that he had thrown out over the sea was there on the mountain."
It is clear from these two or three incidents that the Great Teacher Kobo was a person of inestimable power and virtue. Since he was a person of such great power, why do you say that one should not believe in his teachings, and that anyone who does so will fall into the Avichi hell?
Answer: I, too, admire and believe in these various accomplishments of his. There are other men of old who possessed such uncanny powers. But the possession of such power does not indicate whether that person's understanding of the Buddhist teaching is correct or not. Among the non-Buddhist believers of India there have been men who could pour all the waters of the Ganges River into their ear and keep it there for twelve years, or those who could drink the ocean dry, grasp the sun and moon in their hands, or change the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha into oxen or sheep. But such powers only made them more arrogant than ever and caused them to create further karma to confine themselves in the sufferings of birth and death. It is men like these whom T'ien-t'ai is referring to when he says, "They seek after fame and profit and increase their (97) illusions of thought and desire."
The Chinese priest Fa-yün of Kuang-che-ssu temple could make it rain suddenly or cause flowers to bloom immediately, but Miao-lo writes of him, "Though he could bring about a response in this way, his understanding still did not accord with the truth [of (98) the Lotus Sutra]." When the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai read the Lotus Sutra, soft rain began to fall in an instant, and the Great Teacher Dengyo caused sweet rain to fall within the space of three days. However, they did not say that because of such powers their understanding of the truth coincided with that of the Buddha.
Regardless of what unusual powers the Great Teacher Kobo may have had, he described the Lotus Sutra as a doctrine of childish theory and wrote that Shakyamuni Buddha was still in the region of darkness. Persons of wisdom and understanding should have nothing to do with such writings.
Say what you may, there are surely doubtful points in the accounts of Kobo's powers you have just cited. The text says, "In the spring of the ninth year of Konin, the empire was troubled by a great plague." But spring is ninety (99) days long. On which day of which month of spring did this happen? This is the first doubtful point.
Secondly, was there in fact an outbreak of plague in the ninth year of Konin?
Thirdly, the text says, "When night came, the sun continued to shine bright and red." If it really did so, then this is an occurrence of major importance. During the ninth year of Konin, Emperor Saga reigned. But did the court (100) historians of the left and right record any such event?
Even if they had, it would be difficult to believe. During the twenty kalpas of the kalpa of formation and nine kalpas of the kalpa of continuance, a total of twenty-nine kalpas, never once has such a thing occurred. What then is this about the sun appearing in the middle of the night? In all the sacred teachings expounded by the Thus Come One Shakyamuni during his lifetime, there is no mention of any such thing. And in the Three Records and the Five Canons of China, which describe the three sovereigns and five emperors of antiquity, there is no prediction that at some future date the sun will come out in the middle of the night. In the scriptures of Buddhism, we are told that, in the kalpa of decline, two suns, three suns, or even seven suns will appear, but these will appear in the daytime, not at night. And if the sun should appear at night in our own region, the continent of Jambudvipa in the south, then what about the other three regions of the east, west, and north?
Regardless of what the Buddhist scriptures or the secular works may have to say about such an event, if in fact there were some entry in the daily records of the courtiers, the other families of the capital, or the priests of Mount Hiei saying that in the spring of the ninth year of Konin, in such and such a month, on such and such a day, at such and such an hour of the night the sun appeared, then we might perhaps believe it. [But no such record exists.]
Later, the text says, "I was present long ago at Eagle Peak when the Buddha preached the Heart Sutra, and I personally heard him expound its profound doctrines." This is surely a wild falsehood that is intended to make people have faith in his commentary. If not, are we to believe that at Eagle Peak the Buddha announced that the Lotus Sutra was a piece of childish theory and that the Mahavairochana Sutra represented the truth, and that Ananda and Manjushri were simply mistaken in saying that the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law represents the truth?
As for making it rain, even a woman who was licentious and a priest who (101) was a breaker of the precepts were able by their poems to cause rain to fall. Yet Kobo prayed for twenty-one days and still it did not rain, so what sort of powers could he have possessed? This is the fourth doubtful point.
On the Peacock Sutra states, "The great teacher [Kobo] thereupon formed his hands in the wisdom mudra and faced south. Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahavairochana." Now in what year of the reign of what ruler did this happen?
In China from the time of the Chien-yüan era (140-134 BCE), and in Japan from the time of the Taiho era (701-704), among the records of events kept by priests and the laity, those of important occurrences have always been accompanied by the name of the era in which they took place. With an event as important as that described, why then is there no mention of who the ruler was, who his high ministers were, what the name of the era was, or what day and hour the event took place?
The passage goes on to list "Dosho of the Three Treatises school, Gennin of the Dharma Characteristics school, Doyu of the Flower Garland school, and Encho of the Tendai school" [as those who learned the True Word doctrines from Kobo]. Encho is known posthumously as the Great Teacher Jakko and was the second chief priest of the Tendai school. Now at that time, why was Gishin, the first chief priest, or the Great Teacher Dengyo, the founder of the school, not invited to be present? Encho, the second chief priest of the Tendai school, was a disciple of the Great Teacher Dengyo and also became a disciple of the Great Teacher Kobo. Rather than inviting a disciple or rather than inviting men of the Three Treatises, Dharma Characteristics, and Flower Garland schools, why did Kobo not invite the two most important men of the Tendai school, Dengyo and Gishin?
Speaking of the time when these men were invited, On the Peacock Sutra states, "From that time the True Word, or Yoga, school with its doctrines of secret mandalas was established." This would seem to refer to a time when both Dengyo and Gishin were still alive. From the second year of Daido (807), in the reign of Emperor Heizei, until the thirteenth year of Konin (822) [when Dengyo died], Kobo was very active in spreading the True Word doctrines, and during this period both Dengyo and Gishin were still alive. Moreover, Gishin lived on until the tenth year of Tencho (833). Had Kobo's True Word teachings not been spread by that time? The whole matter is very strange.
On the Peacock Sutra was written by (102) Shinzei, a disciple of Kobo, and therefore it is difficult to trust what it says. Is it likely that a person of such deluded views would have troubled to read the writings of the courtiers, the other important families, or Encho on which to base his account? One should also check the writings of Dosho, Gennin, and Doyu to see if they have anything to say on the matter.
The text says, "Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahavairochana." What does it mean by the expression "his mouth opened"? The writer probably intended to write the characters meaning the "area between the (103) eye-brows," but he mistakenly wrote those for "mouth" instead. Because he wrote a book of fabrications, he quite likely made mistakes of this kind.
The whole passage says: "The great teacher thereupon formed his hands in the wisdom mudra and faced south. Suddenly his mouth opened, and he turned into the golden-colored Buddha Mahavairochana."
Now in the fifth volume of the Nirvana Sutra we read: "Kashyapa spoke to the Buddha, saying: 'World-Honored One, I will no longer depend upon the four ranks of sages. Why is this? Because in the Ghoshila Sutra that the Buddha preached for the sake (104) of Ghoshila, it is said that the devil king in heaven, because he is determined to try to destroy the Buddhist teachings, will turn himself into the likeness of a Buddha. He will have all the thirty-two features and eighty characteristics of a Buddha, will be solemn and imposing in appearance, and a round halo of light will radiate from him ten feet in all directions. His face will be round and full like the moon at its fullest and brightest, and the tuft of white hair in between his eyebrows will be whiter than snow. . . . From his left side will come water, and from his right side will come fire.'"
Again, in the sixth volume of the Nirvana Sutra, it is recorded: "The Buddha announced to Kashyapa: 'After I have passed into nirvana . . . this devil king Papiyas will in time try to destroy the correct teaching of mine. . . . He will change his form into that of an arhat or a Buddha. The devil king, though still subject to illusion, will assume the form of one who has been freed from illusion, and will try to destroy the correct teaching of mine.'"
The Great Teacher Kobo declared that, in comparison to the Flower Garland and Mahavairochana sutras, the Lotus Sutra was a piece of childish theory. And this same man, we are told, appeared in the form of a Buddha. He must be the devil who, as the Nirvana Sutra states, will change his shape, which is still subject to illusion, into that of a Buddha and attempt to destroy the correct teaching of Shakyamuni.
This "correct teaching" referred to in the Nirvana Sutra is the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, we find later on in the Nirvana Sutra the statement "It has already been a long time since I attained Buddhahood." The text also says, "[When this sutra was preached . . . the prediction had already been made] in the Lotus Sutra [that the eight thousand voice-hearers would attain Buddhahood]."
Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions declared with regard to the various sutras that the Lotus Sutra represents the truth; the Mahavairochana and all the other sutras do not represent the truth. Yet the Great Teacher Kobo appeared in the form of a Buddha and announced that, compared to the Flower Garland and Mahavairochana sutras, the Lotus Sutra is a piece of childish theory. If the words of the Buddha are true, then Kobo must be none other than the devil king in heaven, must he not?
Again, the matter of the three-pronged diamond-pounder appears to be particularly suspicious. It would be difficult to believe even if a Chinese [who had not known the circumstances] had come to Japan and happened to dig up the pounder. Surely someone must have been sent earlier to bury it in that particular spot. Since Kobo was a Japanese, he could have arranged such a thing. There are many such wild and absurd stories associated with his name. Such incidents hardly lend support to the assertion that his teachings accord with the will of the Buddha.
Notes:
85. Shinsen'en was a garden established by Emperor Kammu within the imperial palace in Kyoto. It was the site of a large pond where prayers for rain were performed. According to Genko Era Biographies, a dragon lived in this pond, and when it made an appearance, rain would fall. Matsuna's offerings were made to this dragon.
86. "The ninth period of decrease" cor-responds to the present age. See kalpa of continuance in Glossary.
87. A dissolute ruler who was conquered by King Wu of the Chou dynasty. According to Records of the Historian, he had a human figure made and called it a heavenly god, and caused people to treat it with contempt. Moreover, it is said that he shot arrows at a leather bag filled with blood, claiming that he had shot the god of the sun.
88. The chieftain of Tomi refers to Nagasunebiko, a powerful local leader in Yamato. According to The Chronicles of Japan, Jimmu, the legendary first emperor, proceeded southward to invade the Yamato region, where he was engaged in battle by Nagasunebiko and driven back.
89. The last convert of Shakyamuni Buddha. According to The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, he had a dream in which all people were deprived of their eyesight and left standing naked in the darkness, whereupon the sun fell from the sky, the earth cracked, the seas ran dry, and Mount Sumeru was toppled by a great wind. In the morning, being told that the Buddha would enter nirvana before the next day, he went to Shakyamuni and joined the Order, and that night attained the state of arhat.
90. Ming-sheng (n.d.) was a priest of the Three Treatises school during the T'ang dynasty. He was a disciple of Fa-lang, and Chia-hsiang was one of his fellow priests.
91. Lotus Sutra, chap. 2.
92. Praising Rebirth in the Pure Land.
93. "This priest of the Willow Tree" refers to Shan-tao, who was so called because he is said to have attempted to commit suicide by hanging himself from a branch of a willow tree in front of the temple where he lived in hopes of going to the Pure Land. However, either the rope or the willow branch broke, and he fell to the ground. He died a week later in torment from his injuries.
94. One of the four types of wheel-turning kings. The king who rules all the four continents surrounding Mount Sumeru.
95. Yoga (Skt), or "union," is another name for the True Word school. Esoteric Buddhism stresses the union of the body, voice, and mind of common mortals with those of Mahavairochana Buddha. In terms of practice, mudras represent the body, mantras, the voice, and meditation on mandalas, the mind.
96. Dosho (799-875) first studied the Three Treatises doctrines but later became a follower of Kobo. Gennin (818-887) first studied the Dharma Characteristics doctrines but later studied the esoteric teachings under Shinga. In 885, he became the chief priest of To-ji temple. Doyu (d. 851) first studied the Dharma Characteristics teachings but later turned to the Flower Garland doctrines. He became the seventh patriarch of the Flower Garland school.
97. The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra.
98. The Annotations on "The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra."
99. The ninety-day period from the beginning of the first month through the end of the third. In the lunar calendar, the first day of the first month was regarded as the beginning of spring.
100. "Court historian" was an official position of the Grand Council of State. There were eight altogether: four of the left and four of the right. A historian of the left recorded events; a historian of the right recorded the words of the emperor.
101. A reference to the poet and court lady-in-waiting Izumi Shikibu (b. c. 976) and the priest Noin (b. 988), whose works include poems that express prayers for rain.
102. Shinzei (800-860) was a priest of the True Word school. He was granted the position of acharya, which qualifies one to transmit the secret doctrines of the True Word.
103. This implies one of the thirty-two features of a Buddha, a tuft of white hair between the eyebrows.
104. Ghoshila was a wealthy householder of Kaushambi, who built Ghoshilavana Monastery to invite Shakyamuni Buddha to preach.
(to be continued)
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