The Opening of the Eyes / WND pg. 251 (continued)
The Opening of the Eyes / WND pg. 251 (continued)
The various bodhisattvas who had attended the numerous assemblies held in the forty-some years since the Buddha preached the Flower Garland Sutra had raised doubts at each assembly, asking the Buddha to dispel these doubts for the benefit of the multitude. But this present doubt was the greatest doubt of all. It surpassed even the doubt entertained by Great Adornment and the others of the eighty thousand bodhisattvas described in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra when the Buddha, after declaring in the previous forty-some years of his teaching that enlightenment was something that required countless kalpas to attain, now announced that it could be attained quickly.
According to the Meditation on the Buddha Infinite Life Sutra, King Ajatashatru, led astray by Devadatta, imprisoned his father and was on the point of killing his mother, Lady Vaidehi. Reprimanded by the court ministers Jivaka and Chandraprabha, however, he spared his mother's life. At that time she begged (139) that the Buddha appear to her, and then she began by posing this question: "What offense have I committed in the past that I should have given birth to this evil son? And, World-Honored One, through what cause have you come to be related to a person as evil as your cousin Devadatta?"
Of the doubts raised here, the second is the more perplexing, the question of why the Buddha should be related to an evil person like Devadatta. A wheel-turning king, we are told, is never born into the world along with his enemies, nor is the god Shakra to be found in the company of demons. The Buddha had been a merciful personage for countless kalpas. Yet the fact that Shakyamuni was born together with his arch enemy might make one doubt whether he was indeed a Buddha at all. The Buddha, however, did not answer the question of Lady Vaidehi. Therefore, if one reads and recites only the Meditation Sutra and does not examine the "Devadatta" chapter of the Lotus Sutra, one will never know (140) the truth of the matter.
In the Nirvana Sutra, Bodhisattva Kashyapa posed thirty-six questions to the Buddha, but even these cannot compare to this question posed by Maitreya. If the Buddha had failed to dispel Maitreya's doubts, the sacred teachings of his entire lifetime would have amounted to no more than froth on the water, and all living beings would have remained tangled in the snare of doubt. That was why it was so important for him to preach the "Life Span" chapter.
Later, when the Buddha preached the "Life Span" chapter, he said: "In all the worlds the heavenly and human beings and asuras all believe that the present Shakyamuni Buddha, after leaving the palace of the Shakyas, seated himself in the place of meditation not far from the city of Gaya and there attained supreme perfect enlightenment." This passage expresses the view held by all the great bodhisattvas and the rest of the multitude from the time of the Buddha's first preaching at the place of enlightenment until his preaching of the "Peaceful Practices" chapter of the Lotus Sutra. "But, good men," the Buddha continued, "it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood (141)."
In three places the Flower Garland Sutra says that the Buddha attained enlightenment for the first time in his present existence. In the Agama sutras he speaks of having attained the way for the first time in his present existence; the Vimalakirti Sutra states, "For the first time the Buddha sat beneath the bodhi tree"; in the Great Collection Sutra, "It is sixteen years [since the Thus Come One first attained the way]"; in the Mahavairochana Sutra, "long ago when I sat in the place of meditation"; in the Benevolent Kings Sutra, "twenty-nine years [since his enlightenment]"; in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra, "In the past I sat upright in the place of meditation"; and in the "Expedient Means" chapter of the Lotus Sutra, "I first sat in the place of meditation." But now all these passages have been exposed as gross falsehoods by this single pronouncement in the "Life Span" chapter.
When Shakyamuni Buddha revealed that he had gained enlightenment in the far distant past, it became apparent that all the other Buddhas were emanations of Shakyamuni. When the Buddha preached the earlier sutras and the first half, or theoretical teaching, of the Lotus Sutra, the other Buddhas were pictured as standing on an equal footing with Shakyamuni, after completing their respective practices and disciplines. Therefore, the people who take one or another of these Buddhas as their object of devotion customarily look down on Shakyamuni Buddha. But now it becomes apparent that Vairochana Buddha, who is described in the Flower Garland Sutra as being seated on a lotus pedestal, and the various Buddhas who appear in the sutras of the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom periods, such as the Mahavairochana Sutra, are all in fact followers of Shakyamuni Buddha.
When Shakyamuni Buddha attained the way at the age of thirty, he seized the saha world away from the great heavenly king Brahma and the devil king of the sixth heaven, who had both ruled it previously, and made it his own. In the earlier sutras and the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra, he called the regions of the ten directions pure lands and spoke of the present world as an impure land. But now, in the "Life Span" chapter, he has reversed this, revealing that this world is the true land and that the so-called pure lands of the ten directions are impure lands, mere provisional lands.
Since the Buddha [of the "Life Span" chapter] is revealed as the Buddha who attained enlightenment in the remote past [and all the other Buddhas as his emanations], it follows that not only the great bodhisattvas whom Shakyamuni himself taught in his transient status, but the great bodhisattvas from other realms [who were taught by the Buddhas of their own realms] are also in fact disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. If, among all the numerous sutras, this "Life Span" chapter should be lacking, it would be as though there were no sun or moon in the sky, no supreme ruler in the nation, no gems in the mountains and rivers, and no spirit in human beings.
Nevertheless, Ch'eng-kuan, Chia-hsiang, Tz'u-en, Kobo, and others, seemingly learned men of provisional schools such as the Flower Garland and the True Word, in order to praise the various sutras upon which their provisional doctrines are based, go so far as to say, "The Buddha of the Flower Garland Sutra is the Buddha of the reward body, while the Buddha of the Lotus Sutra is merely the Buddha of (142) the manifested body." Or they say, "The Buddha of the 'Life Span' chapter of the Lotus Sutra is in the region of darkness, while the Buddha of the Mahavairochana Sutra occupies the position (143) of enlightenment."
As clouds obscure the moon, so calumnious ministers can obscure a person of true worth. A yellow stone, if people praise it, may be mistaken for a jewel, and ministers who are skilled in flattery may be mistaken for worthies. In this impure age, scholars and students are confused by the slanderous assertions of the kind of men I have mentioned above, and they do not appreciate the true worth of the jewel of the "Life Span" chapter. Even among the men of the Tendai school there are those who have become so deluded that they cannot distinguish gold from mere stones.
One should consider the fact that, if the Buddha had not attained enlightenment in the distant past, there could not have been so many disciples who were converted and instructed by him. The moon is not selfish with its reflection, but if there is no water, then its reflection will not be seen. The Buddha may be very anxious to convert all people, but if the connection he shares with them is not strong enough, then he cannot exhibit the eight phases of a Buddha's existence. For example, the voice-hearers attained the first stage of security or the first stage of development, but so long as they followed the teachings that preceded the Lotus Sutra and sought only to regulate and save themselves, they had to postpone the attainment of the eight phases of a Buddha's existence to some future lifetime.
If Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, had attained enlightenment for the first time in his present existence, then when he preached the Lotus Sutra, Brahma, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, and the four heavenly kings, though they had ruled over this world since the beginning of the kalpa of continuance, would have been disciples of the Buddha for no longer than forty-some years. These beings would then have established their connection with the Lotus Sutra for the first time during the eight years of preaching at Eagle Peak. They would thus have been like newcomers unable to unreservedly approach their lord, kept at a distance by those who had been present longer.
But now that it has become apparent that Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment countless kalpas ago, then the bodhisattvas Sunlight and Moonlight, who attend the Thus Come One Medicine Master of the eastern region, and the bodhisattvas Perceiver of the World's Sounds and Great Power, who attend the Thus Come One Amida of the western region, along with the disciples of all the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten directions, and the great bodhisattvas who are disciples of the Thus Come One Mahavairochana as they are shown in the Mahavairochana and Diamond Crown sutras - all of these beings are disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. Since the various Buddhas themselves are emanations of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni, it goes without saying that their disciples must be disciples of Shakyamuni. And of course the various deities of the sun, moon, and stars, who have dwelt in this world since the beginning of the kalpa of continuance, must likewise be disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha.
Nevertheless, the schools of Buddhism other than Tendai have gone astray concerning the true object of devotion. The Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, and Precepts schools take as their object of devotion the Shakyamuni Buddha who eliminated illusions and attained the way by practicing thirty-four kinds of (144) spiritual purification. This is comparable to a situation in which the heir apparent of the supreme ruler of a state mistakenly believes himself to be the son of a commoner. The four schools of Flower Garland, True Word, Three Treatises, and Dharma Characteristics are all Mahayana schools of Buddhism. Among them the Dharma Characteristics and Three Treatises schools honor a Buddha who is comparable to the Buddha of the superior manifested (145) body.
This is like the heir of the supreme ruler supposing that his father was a member of the warrior class. The Flower Garland and True Word schools look down upon Shakyamuni Buddha and declare the Buddha Vairochana and the Buddha Mahavairochana to be their respective objects of devotion. This is like the heir looking down upon his own father, the supreme ruler, and paying honor to one who is of obscure origin simply because that person pretends to be the sovereign who abides by the principles of righteousness. The Pure Land school considers itself to be most closely related to the Buddha Amida, who is an emanation of Shakyamuni, and abandons Shakyamuni himself who is the lord of teachings. The Zen school behaves like a person of low birth who makes much of his small achievements and despises his father and mother. Thus the Zen school looks down upon both the Buddha and the sutras. All of these schools are misled concerning the true object of devotion. They are like the people who lived in the age before the Three Sovereigns of ancient China and did not know who their own fathers were. In that respect, the people of that time were no different from birds and beasts.
The people of these schools who are ignorant of the teachings of the "Life Span" chapter are similarly like beasts. They do not understand to whom they are obligated. Therefore, Miao-lo states: "Among all the teachings of the Buddha's lifetime, there is no place [other than the 'Life Span' chapter] where the true longevity of the Buddha is revealed. A person ought to know how old his father and mother are. If a son does not even know how old his father is, he will also be in doubt as to what lands his father presides over. Though he may be idly praised for his talent and ability, he (146) cannot be counted as a son at all!"
The Great Teacher Miao-lo lived in the T'ien-pao era (742-756) in the (147) latter part of the T'ang dynasty. He made a deep and thorough examination of the Three Treatises, Flower Garland, Dharma Characteristics, True Word, and other schools, and the sutras upon which they are based. Then, he concluded that, if one fails to become acquainted with the Buddha of the "Life Span" chapter, one is no more than a talented animal who does not even know what lands one's father presides over. "Though he may be idly praised for his talent and ability" refers to men like Fa-tsang and Ch'eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school or the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei of the True Word school. These teachers had talent and ability, yet they were like sons who do not even know their own father.
The Great Teacher Dengyo was the patriarch of both esoteric and exoteric (148) Buddhism in Japan. In his Outstanding Principles he writes: "The sutras that the other schools are based upon give expression in a certain measure to the mother-like nature of the Buddha. But they convey only a sense of love and are lacking in a sense of fatherly sternness. It is only the Tendai Lotus school that combines a sense of both love and sternness. The Lotus Sutra is 'father of all sages, worthies, those still learning, those who have completed their learning, and those who set their (149) minds on becoming bodhisattvas.'"
The sutras that form the basis of the True Word and Flower Garland schools do not even contain the terms "sowing," "maturing," and "harvesting," much less the doctrine to which these terms refer. When the sutras of the Flower Garland and True Word schools assert that their followers will enter the first stage of development in this lifetime and achieve Buddhahood in their present form, they are putting forth the teachings of the provisional sutras alone, teachings that conceal [the seeds (150) sowed in] the past. To expect to harvest [the fruit of Buddhahood] without knowing the seed first sowed is like the minister Chao Kao attempting to seize the throne or the priest Dokyo trying to become emperor of Japan.
Notes:
139. According to the Meditation Sutra, when Ajatashatru killed his father and confined Vaidehi to the interior of the palace, she faced Eagle Peak where Shakyamuni was preaching and prayed to him. Out of compassion, he appeared in her chamber and taught her how to reach the Pure Land of Amida Buddha.
140. The "Devadatta" chapter describes the teacher-disciple relationship between Devadatta and Shakyamuni in their previous existence. The chapter refers to a king, who, in order to seek the great Law, served a seer named Asita for one thousand years. After relating this story, Shakyamuni identifies the king as himself in a previous existence and Asita as Devadatta. He is now the teacher of the man who once taught him. The "Devadatta" chapter thus provides an answer to the question posed in the Meditation Sutra.
141. Lotus Sutra, chap. 16. In the "Peaceful Practices" chapter, or the last chapter of the theoretical teaching, the Buddha had yet to teach of his enlightenment in the remote past.
142. Source unknown.
143. The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury, written by Kobo.
144. These are practices designed to eradicate the illusions of thought and desire.
145. The Annotations on the Flower Garland Sutra divides the manifested body into superior and inferior.
146. The Treatise of Five Hundred Questions.
147. In the time of T'ien-t'ai, the esoteric teachings of the True Word school had not yet reached China. Shan-wu-wei brought them from India in 716, shortly after the birth of Miao-lo.
148. When Dengyo went to China, he studied chiefly T'ien-t'ai's teachings based on the Lotus Sutra. When he returned to Japan, however, he also brought some esoteric teachings with him. For this reason he
is referred to as the patriarch of esoteric and exoteric Buddhism, since his introduction of esoteric texts preceded that of Kobo.
149. Lotus Sutra, chap. 23.
150. That is, they do not reveal the Buddha's attainment of enlightenment in the distant past as explained in the Lotus Sutra.
(to be continued from pg. 259)
The Opening of the Eyes / WND pg. 251 (continued)
The various bodhisattvas who had attended the numerous assemblies held in the forty-some years since the Buddha preached the Flower Garland Sutra had raised doubts at each assembly, asking the Buddha to dispel these doubts for the benefit of the multitude. But this present doubt was the greatest doubt of all. It surpassed even the doubt entertained by Great Adornment and the others of the eighty thousand bodhisattvas described in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra when the Buddha, after declaring in the previous forty-some years of his teaching that enlightenment was something that required countless kalpas to attain, now announced that it could be attained quickly.
According to the Meditation on the Buddha Infinite Life Sutra, King Ajatashatru, led astray by Devadatta, imprisoned his father and was on the point of killing his mother, Lady Vaidehi. Reprimanded by the court ministers Jivaka and Chandraprabha, however, he spared his mother's life. At that time she begged (139) that the Buddha appear to her, and then she began by posing this question: "What offense have I committed in the past that I should have given birth to this evil son? And, World-Honored One, through what cause have you come to be related to a person as evil as your cousin Devadatta?"
Of the doubts raised here, the second is the more perplexing, the question of why the Buddha should be related to an evil person like Devadatta. A wheel-turning king, we are told, is never born into the world along with his enemies, nor is the god Shakra to be found in the company of demons. The Buddha had been a merciful personage for countless kalpas. Yet the fact that Shakyamuni was born together with his arch enemy might make one doubt whether he was indeed a Buddha at all. The Buddha, however, did not answer the question of Lady Vaidehi. Therefore, if one reads and recites only the Meditation Sutra and does not examine the "Devadatta" chapter of the Lotus Sutra, one will never know (140) the truth of the matter.
In the Nirvana Sutra, Bodhisattva Kashyapa posed thirty-six questions to the Buddha, but even these cannot compare to this question posed by Maitreya. If the Buddha had failed to dispel Maitreya's doubts, the sacred teachings of his entire lifetime would have amounted to no more than froth on the water, and all living beings would have remained tangled in the snare of doubt. That was why it was so important for him to preach the "Life Span" chapter.
Later, when the Buddha preached the "Life Span" chapter, he said: "In all the worlds the heavenly and human beings and asuras all believe that the present Shakyamuni Buddha, after leaving the palace of the Shakyas, seated himself in the place of meditation not far from the city of Gaya and there attained supreme perfect enlightenment." This passage expresses the view held by all the great bodhisattvas and the rest of the multitude from the time of the Buddha's first preaching at the place of enlightenment until his preaching of the "Peaceful Practices" chapter of the Lotus Sutra. "But, good men," the Buddha continued, "it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood (141)."
In three places the Flower Garland Sutra says that the Buddha attained enlightenment for the first time in his present existence. In the Agama sutras he speaks of having attained the way for the first time in his present existence; the Vimalakirti Sutra states, "For the first time the Buddha sat beneath the bodhi tree"; in the Great Collection Sutra, "It is sixteen years [since the Thus Come One first attained the way]"; in the Mahavairochana Sutra, "long ago when I sat in the place of meditation"; in the Benevolent Kings Sutra, "twenty-nine years [since his enlightenment]"; in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra, "In the past I sat upright in the place of meditation"; and in the "Expedient Means" chapter of the Lotus Sutra, "I first sat in the place of meditation." But now all these passages have been exposed as gross falsehoods by this single pronouncement in the "Life Span" chapter.
When Shakyamuni Buddha revealed that he had gained enlightenment in the far distant past, it became apparent that all the other Buddhas were emanations of Shakyamuni. When the Buddha preached the earlier sutras and the first half, or theoretical teaching, of the Lotus Sutra, the other Buddhas were pictured as standing on an equal footing with Shakyamuni, after completing their respective practices and disciplines. Therefore, the people who take one or another of these Buddhas as their object of devotion customarily look down on Shakyamuni Buddha. But now it becomes apparent that Vairochana Buddha, who is described in the Flower Garland Sutra as being seated on a lotus pedestal, and the various Buddhas who appear in the sutras of the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom periods, such as the Mahavairochana Sutra, are all in fact followers of Shakyamuni Buddha.
When Shakyamuni Buddha attained the way at the age of thirty, he seized the saha world away from the great heavenly king Brahma and the devil king of the sixth heaven, who had both ruled it previously, and made it his own. In the earlier sutras and the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra, he called the regions of the ten directions pure lands and spoke of the present world as an impure land. But now, in the "Life Span" chapter, he has reversed this, revealing that this world is the true land and that the so-called pure lands of the ten directions are impure lands, mere provisional lands.
Since the Buddha [of the "Life Span" chapter] is revealed as the Buddha who attained enlightenment in the remote past [and all the other Buddhas as his emanations], it follows that not only the great bodhisattvas whom Shakyamuni himself taught in his transient status, but the great bodhisattvas from other realms [who were taught by the Buddhas of their own realms] are also in fact disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. If, among all the numerous sutras, this "Life Span" chapter should be lacking, it would be as though there were no sun or moon in the sky, no supreme ruler in the nation, no gems in the mountains and rivers, and no spirit in human beings.
Nevertheless, Ch'eng-kuan, Chia-hsiang, Tz'u-en, Kobo, and others, seemingly learned men of provisional schools such as the Flower Garland and the True Word, in order to praise the various sutras upon which their provisional doctrines are based, go so far as to say, "The Buddha of the Flower Garland Sutra is the Buddha of the reward body, while the Buddha of the Lotus Sutra is merely the Buddha of (142) the manifested body." Or they say, "The Buddha of the 'Life Span' chapter of the Lotus Sutra is in the region of darkness, while the Buddha of the Mahavairochana Sutra occupies the position (143) of enlightenment."
As clouds obscure the moon, so calumnious ministers can obscure a person of true worth. A yellow stone, if people praise it, may be mistaken for a jewel, and ministers who are skilled in flattery may be mistaken for worthies. In this impure age, scholars and students are confused by the slanderous assertions of the kind of men I have mentioned above, and they do not appreciate the true worth of the jewel of the "Life Span" chapter. Even among the men of the Tendai school there are those who have become so deluded that they cannot distinguish gold from mere stones.
One should consider the fact that, if the Buddha had not attained enlightenment in the distant past, there could not have been so many disciples who were converted and instructed by him. The moon is not selfish with its reflection, but if there is no water, then its reflection will not be seen. The Buddha may be very anxious to convert all people, but if the connection he shares with them is not strong enough, then he cannot exhibit the eight phases of a Buddha's existence. For example, the voice-hearers attained the first stage of security or the first stage of development, but so long as they followed the teachings that preceded the Lotus Sutra and sought only to regulate and save themselves, they had to postpone the attainment of the eight phases of a Buddha's existence to some future lifetime.
If Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, had attained enlightenment for the first time in his present existence, then when he preached the Lotus Sutra, Brahma, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, and the four heavenly kings, though they had ruled over this world since the beginning of the kalpa of continuance, would have been disciples of the Buddha for no longer than forty-some years. These beings would then have established their connection with the Lotus Sutra for the first time during the eight years of preaching at Eagle Peak. They would thus have been like newcomers unable to unreservedly approach their lord, kept at a distance by those who had been present longer.
But now that it has become apparent that Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment countless kalpas ago, then the bodhisattvas Sunlight and Moonlight, who attend the Thus Come One Medicine Master of the eastern region, and the bodhisattvas Perceiver of the World's Sounds and Great Power, who attend the Thus Come One Amida of the western region, along with the disciples of all the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten directions, and the great bodhisattvas who are disciples of the Thus Come One Mahavairochana as they are shown in the Mahavairochana and Diamond Crown sutras - all of these beings are disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. Since the various Buddhas themselves are emanations of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni, it goes without saying that their disciples must be disciples of Shakyamuni. And of course the various deities of the sun, moon, and stars, who have dwelt in this world since the beginning of the kalpa of continuance, must likewise be disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha.
Nevertheless, the schools of Buddhism other than Tendai have gone astray concerning the true object of devotion. The Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, and Precepts schools take as their object of devotion the Shakyamuni Buddha who eliminated illusions and attained the way by practicing thirty-four kinds of (144) spiritual purification. This is comparable to a situation in which the heir apparent of the supreme ruler of a state mistakenly believes himself to be the son of a commoner. The four schools of Flower Garland, True Word, Three Treatises, and Dharma Characteristics are all Mahayana schools of Buddhism. Among them the Dharma Characteristics and Three Treatises schools honor a Buddha who is comparable to the Buddha of the superior manifested (145) body.
This is like the heir of the supreme ruler supposing that his father was a member of the warrior class. The Flower Garland and True Word schools look down upon Shakyamuni Buddha and declare the Buddha Vairochana and the Buddha Mahavairochana to be their respective objects of devotion. This is like the heir looking down upon his own father, the supreme ruler, and paying honor to one who is of obscure origin simply because that person pretends to be the sovereign who abides by the principles of righteousness. The Pure Land school considers itself to be most closely related to the Buddha Amida, who is an emanation of Shakyamuni, and abandons Shakyamuni himself who is the lord of teachings. The Zen school behaves like a person of low birth who makes much of his small achievements and despises his father and mother. Thus the Zen school looks down upon both the Buddha and the sutras. All of these schools are misled concerning the true object of devotion. They are like the people who lived in the age before the Three Sovereigns of ancient China and did not know who their own fathers were. In that respect, the people of that time were no different from birds and beasts.
The people of these schools who are ignorant of the teachings of the "Life Span" chapter are similarly like beasts. They do not understand to whom they are obligated. Therefore, Miao-lo states: "Among all the teachings of the Buddha's lifetime, there is no place [other than the 'Life Span' chapter] where the true longevity of the Buddha is revealed. A person ought to know how old his father and mother are. If a son does not even know how old his father is, he will also be in doubt as to what lands his father presides over. Though he may be idly praised for his talent and ability, he (146) cannot be counted as a son at all!"
The Great Teacher Miao-lo lived in the T'ien-pao era (742-756) in the (147) latter part of the T'ang dynasty. He made a deep and thorough examination of the Three Treatises, Flower Garland, Dharma Characteristics, True Word, and other schools, and the sutras upon which they are based. Then, he concluded that, if one fails to become acquainted with the Buddha of the "Life Span" chapter, one is no more than a talented animal who does not even know what lands one's father presides over. "Though he may be idly praised for his talent and ability" refers to men like Fa-tsang and Ch'eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school or the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei of the True Word school. These teachers had talent and ability, yet they were like sons who do not even know their own father.
The Great Teacher Dengyo was the patriarch of both esoteric and exoteric (148) Buddhism in Japan. In his Outstanding Principles he writes: "The sutras that the other schools are based upon give expression in a certain measure to the mother-like nature of the Buddha. But they convey only a sense of love and are lacking in a sense of fatherly sternness. It is only the Tendai Lotus school that combines a sense of both love and sternness. The Lotus Sutra is 'father of all sages, worthies, those still learning, those who have completed their learning, and those who set their (149) minds on becoming bodhisattvas.'"
The sutras that form the basis of the True Word and Flower Garland schools do not even contain the terms "sowing," "maturing," and "harvesting," much less the doctrine to which these terms refer. When the sutras of the Flower Garland and True Word schools assert that their followers will enter the first stage of development in this lifetime and achieve Buddhahood in their present form, they are putting forth the teachings of the provisional sutras alone, teachings that conceal [the seeds (150) sowed in] the past. To expect to harvest [the fruit of Buddhahood] without knowing the seed first sowed is like the minister Chao Kao attempting to seize the throne or the priest Dokyo trying to become emperor of Japan.
Notes:
139. According to the Meditation Sutra, when Ajatashatru killed his father and confined Vaidehi to the interior of the palace, she faced Eagle Peak where Shakyamuni was preaching and prayed to him. Out of compassion, he appeared in her chamber and taught her how to reach the Pure Land of Amida Buddha.
140. The "Devadatta" chapter describes the teacher-disciple relationship between Devadatta and Shakyamuni in their previous existence. The chapter refers to a king, who, in order to seek the great Law, served a seer named Asita for one thousand years. After relating this story, Shakyamuni identifies the king as himself in a previous existence and Asita as Devadatta. He is now the teacher of the man who once taught him. The "Devadatta" chapter thus provides an answer to the question posed in the Meditation Sutra.
141. Lotus Sutra, chap. 16. In the "Peaceful Practices" chapter, or the last chapter of the theoretical teaching, the Buddha had yet to teach of his enlightenment in the remote past.
142. Source unknown.
143. The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury, written by Kobo.
144. These are practices designed to eradicate the illusions of thought and desire.
145. The Annotations on the Flower Garland Sutra divides the manifested body into superior and inferior.
146. The Treatise of Five Hundred Questions.
147. In the time of T'ien-t'ai, the esoteric teachings of the True Word school had not yet reached China. Shan-wu-wei brought them from India in 716, shortly after the birth of Miao-lo.
148. When Dengyo went to China, he studied chiefly T'ien-t'ai's teachings based on the Lotus Sutra. When he returned to Japan, however, he also brought some esoteric teachings with him. For this reason he
is referred to as the patriarch of esoteric and exoteric Buddhism, since his introduction of esoteric texts preceded that of Kobo.
149. Lotus Sutra, chap. 23.
150. That is, they do not reveal the Buddha's attainment of enlightenment in the distant past as explained in the Lotus Sutra.
(to be continued from pg. 259)
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