On Repaying Debts of Gratitude
Nichiren
Chapter23(The Great Teacher Chia-hsiang’s Repentance for the Sin of Slander)
Main Text
With this example in mind, one must understand the following point. If there are likewise those who read the Flower Garland Sutra, the Meditation Sutra, the Mahāvairochana Sutra, or some other sutra, and they do so thinking that the Lotus Sutra is inferior to those sutras, then they are doing violence to the very heart of those sutras. One must also understand the following point. Even though one reads the Lotus Sutra and appears to believe in it, if one thinks that one may also attain the way through any other sutra as well, then one is not really reading the Lotus Sutra.
For example, the Great Teacher Chia-hsiang wrote a work in ten volumes entitled The Treatise on the Profundity of the Lotus Sutra in which he praised the Lotus Sutra. But Miao-lo criticized the work, saying, “There are slanders in it—how can it be regarded as sincere praise?”78
Chia-hsiang was in fact an offender against the Lotus Sutra. Thus, when he was defeated by T’ien-t’ai and served him, he no longer lectured on the Lotus Sutra. “If I were to lecture on it,” he said, “I could not avoid falling back into the paths of evil.” And for seven years, he made his own body a bridge [for T’ien-t’ai to walk on].
Similarly, the Great Teacher Tz’u-en wrote a work in ten volumes entitled Praising the Profundity of the Lotus Sutra in which he praised the Lotus Sutra, but the Great Teacher Dengyō criticized it, saying, “Though he praises the Lotus Sutra, he destroys its heart.”79
If we consider these examples carefully, we will realize that, among those who read the Lotus Sutra and sing its praises, there are many who are destined for the hell of incessant suffering. Even men like Chia-hsiang and Tz’u-en were actually slanderers of the one vehicle of the Lotus Sutra. And if such can be said of them, it applies even more to men like Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō, who displayed open contempt for the Lotus Sutra.
There are those like the Great Teacher Chia-hsiang, who ceased giving lectures, dispersed the group of disciples that had gathered around him, and even made his body into a bridge for T’ien-t’ai. But in spite of these actions, the offense of his earlier slanders of the Lotus Sutra was not, I expect, so easily wiped out. The crowd of people who despised and abused Bodhisattva Never Disparaging, although they later came to believe in his teachings and became his followers, still carried the burden of their former actions and had to spend a thousand kalpas in the Avīchi hell as a result.
Accordingly, if men like Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō had lectured on the Lotus Sutra, even if they had repented of their errors, they would still have had difficulty making up for their former grave offenses. And of course, as we know, they never had any such change of heart. On the contrary, they completely ignored the Lotus Sutra and spent day and night carrying out the True Word practices and morning and evening preaching the True Word doctrines.
The bodhisattvas Vasubandhu and Ashvaghosha were both on the point of cutting out their tongues because of the offense they had committed by adhering to Hinayana doctrines and criticizing Mahayana. Vasubandhu declared that, although the Āgama sutras of the Hinayana were the words of the Buddha, he would not let his tongue utter them even in jest. And Ashvaghosha, as an act of penance, wrote Awakening of Faith in which he refuted the Hinayana teachings.
The Great Teacher Chia-hsiang in time went to the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai and begged for his lectures. In the presence of a hundred or more distinguished Buddhists, he threw himself on the ground, and, with sweat pouring from every part of his body and tears of blood streaming from his eyes, he declared that from then on he would not see his disciples any more and would no longer lecture on the Lotus Sutra. For, as he said, “If I were to go on facing my disciples and lecturing on the Lotus Sutra, they might suppose that I have the ability to understand the sutra correctly, when in fact I do not.”
Chia-hsiang was both older and more eminent than T’ien-t’ai, and yet, in the presence of others, he deliberately put T’ien-t’ai on his back and carried him across a river. Whenever T’ien-t’ai was about to ascend the lecture platform, Chia-hsiang would take him on his back and carry him up to the platform. After T’ien-t’ai’s death, when Chia-hsiang was summoned into the presence of the emperor of the Sui dynasty,80 he is said to have wept and dragged his feet like a little child whose mother has just died.
When one examines Profundity of the Lotus Sutra by the Great Teacher Chia-hsiang, one finds that it is not the kind of commentary that speaks slanderously of the Lotus Sutra. It merely says that, although the Lotus Sutra and the other Mahayana sutras differ in the profundity of their teachings, they are at heart one and the same. Is this statement perhaps the source of the charge that the work slanders the Law?
Both Ch’eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school and Shan-wu-wei of the True Word school declared that the Lotus Sutra and the Mahāvairochana Sutra reveal the same principle. Therefore, if the Great Teacher Chia-hsiang is to be blamed for the statement I have just referred to, then the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei can hardly escape being blamed as well.
Notes
78. On “The Words and Phrases.”
79. The Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sutra.
80. The emperor of the Sui dynasty refers to the second ruler, Emperor Yang (569–618).
Lecture
A General Refutation of the Shingon (True Word) School
This chapter directly refutes the Shingon school. It serves as a general refutation (so-ha) and is divided into four parts:
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Slander by violating the sutras upon which one relies.
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Slander through lack of faith and disparagement.
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Slander by failing to repent.
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The root cause of slander.
1. Violating the Sutras One Relies Upon
Those who read the Flower Garland, Meditation, or Mahavirochana sutras and claim the Lotus Sutra is inferior to them are actually betraying the very intent of those sutras. As stated in What It Means to Slander the Law:
“To slander the Law means to turn against the Law. To turn against the Law means that, in the case of the Hinayana, one turns against the Hinayana sutras, and in the case of the Mahayana, one turns against the Mahayana sutras. If one turns against the Law, then how can one not be slandering the Law? ” (WND-2, 262)
By following provisional sutras but misinterpreting their intent (which is to lead to the Lotus), one commits a form of slander even while professing faith.
2. Slander through Lack of Faith and Disparagement
Just as violating the intent of provisional sutras constitutes lack of faith, claiming to believe in the Lotus Sutra while contradicting its essence also constitutes “faith without faith.” The true intent of the Lotus Sutra is the firm conviction that it alone is the supreme path to Buddhahood and that provisional teachings are the source of failing to attain enlightenment. What It Means to Slander the Law notes:
“When he hears the doctrine that all living beings possess the Buddha nature expounded, he believes it, and yet in his heart he continues to give credence to the views expounded in the sutras that preceded the Lotus Sutra, believing that there is a certain type of human being who does not possess the Buddha nature. This is what is meant by believing and yet not believing.” (WND-2, 268)
Regarding the examples of Chia-hsiang and Tzu-en, High Priest Nikkan Shonin observed that although Chia-hsiang wrote commentaries praising the Lotus Sutra, his words of “praise” actually contained disparaging meanings. This is why it is said that “slander exists within his very words.”
3. Slander by Failing to Repent
Even though Master Chia-hsiang repented, his past slander was difficult to expiate. How much greater, then, is the offense of those like Kobo (Kukai) or Jikaku (Ennin), who never repented at all? Their offenses are immeasurable.
4. The Root Cause of Slander
In his Deep Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, Chia-hsiang did not explicitly slander the Lotus, but he claimed that the “heart” of the various Mahayana teachings and the Lotus Sutra is the same. This claim is the root of slander. What It Means to Slander the Law explains:
“The principle in the various Mahayana sutras is the principle that has not yet been ‘opened and merged’ (maikekai)… but the principle of the Lotus Sutra is the principle of ‘opening and merging’ (kaikai), and it reveals the attainment of enlightenment in the remote past (kuon jojo).” (WND-1, 167)
Despite this difference—as vast as that between heaven and earth—teachers like Cheng-kuan and Shan-wu-wei claimed the Mahavirochana Sutra and the Lotus Sutra share the same principle (Ri-ichi). This is impossible because the “principle” in provisional Mahayana is nominal and lacks substance, whereas the principle of the Lotus Sutra is reality itself and is eternally inherent.
Killing the Spirit of the Lotus Sutra
Dengyo the Great stated, “Though they praise the Lotus Sutra, they destroy its spirit.” Applying this to the modern religious world reveals a sobering reality.
The Error of Traditional Sects Members of the Tendai school or other Nichiren sects often think of Nichiren Daishonin simply as a practitioner who spread the Lotus Sutra in the same way it was spread during the Middle Day of the Law. They continue to recite the 28 chapters of the sutra or transcribe it just as was done in the past. This contradicts Shakyamuni’s own prophecy that in the Latter Day, the “Pure Law will become obscured” (bippo inmutsu) and the formal Lotus Sutra will lose its power to lead people to enlightenment. By clinging to the old forms, they destroy the true spirit of the sutra for the present age.
The True Object of Devotion The Lotus Sutra of the Latter Day is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo of the Three Great Secret Laws. Other Nichiren sects, ignorant of the Daishonin’s true intent, take as their object of devotion (honzon) various things: Shakyamuni statues, “false mandalas,” Kishimojin (Hariti), fox deities, dragon gods, or even posthumous Buddhist names (kaimyo). This is the height of “killing the spirit of the Lotus” and destroying Buddhism from within.
In this era, true faith exists only in believing in the correct Gohonzon, of which the Daishonin said: “I, Nichiren, have infused my soul into thin sumi ink, so believe in this Gohonzon with your whole heart.”
The Example of Great Teachers Bodhisattvas Vasubandhu and Ashvaghosha, and Master Chia-hsiang, all eventually discarded their lesser teachings to propagate the Great Law. They were “monks of shame and repentance” who sought the truth. In contrast, it is a tragic sight to see modern clerics who, despite knowing their teachings are inferior or erroneous, refuse to submit to the Great Law out of pride or attachment.
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