Condolences on a Deceased Husband Chapter7

And then there is the case of the True Word school. This school is honored by persons from the ruler on down to the common people, looked up to as though it were the sun and moon and treasured like some sort of precious jewel. The doctrines of this school declare that in comparison to the Mahāvairochana Sutra, the Lotus Sutra is of second- or third-rate importance,¹³ and that Shakyamuni Buddha is a mere retainer to the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana.¹⁴

These teachings were spread by Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō, and even now, some four hundred years or more later, they are taught in the temples of Mount Hiei, Tō-ji, and Onjō-ji, and by learned men all over Japan.

Then there is the Zen school, which claims that the true and correct teaching represents a “separate transmission outside the sutras.” The Lotus and other sutras belong to the category of written teachings. They are compared to a finger pointing at the moon, or a boat after one has crossed the water. One no longer needs the boat once one has reached the farther shore, or the finger once one has seen the moon, say the Zen teachers.

The people of this school are not aware that they are slandering the Law, but simply continue to hand down the teachings as they have received them, as though it were a quite natural thing to do. But in fact, such declarations are an insult to Shakyamuni Buddha and a source of great error regarding the Lotus Sutra. They cause the people of this country to commit offenses that are graver than the five cardinal sins, yet they do not even know they are offending.