Questions and Answers on the Object of Devotion Chapter8-1（Spreading Buddhism In India and China）

Answer: In the one thousand years following the demise of Shakyamuni, the lord of teachings, Buddhism spread throughout India. In the first five hundred years it was the Buddhism of the Hinayana, or lesser vehicle, while in the following five hundred years it was that of the Mahayana, or great vehicle. The Hinayana and the Mahayana teachings and the provisional and the true teachings contended with each other, but at that time there was no clear-cut distinction between the exoteric and the esoteric doctrines.

Fifteen years after the beginning of the Middle Day of the Law, Buddhism was introduced to China. At first there was much controversy between the teachings of Shakyamuni and those of the Confucian and Taoist schools of thought and no conclusion had been reached, but little by little Buddhism spread throughout the country. At that time there were controversies over the Hinayana and the Mahayana teachings or the provisional and the true teachings, but no great differences were pointed out.

Six hundred years after Buddhism was introduced to China, in the reign of Emperor Hsüan-tsung, the three Tripitaka Masters Shan-wu-wei, Chin-kang-chih, and Pu-k’ung came to China from India and established the True Word school. Thereafter the Flower Garland, Lotus, and the other earlier schools were treated with marked dislike, and everyone from the sovereign on down to the common people believed that the True Word teachings and the Lotus Sutra are as far apart as clouds and mud.

Later, in the reign of Emperor Te-tsung, a man called the Great Teacher Miao-lo perceived that the True Word teachings are vastly inferior to the Lotus Sutra, but he did not express his opinion persistently, and thereafter there was no one who attempted to establish the relative worth of the Lotus Sutra and the True Word teachings.

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