Dialogues for Quick Victory

Dialogues for Quick Victory

Background

DIALOGUES on the Pure Land School

If you are asked whether you believe that the recitation of the six characters [Namu-Amida-butsu] is a good or an evil practice:

Reply by asking whether the questioner is using the terms “good and evil” in the ordinary sense or in a religious sense.

Ask if the questioner would agree that, depending upon whether the practice is good or evil, it could cause one to fall into hell.

Ask whether, if it can be shown that the practice is evil, the questioner would agree that it assuredly causes one to fall into hell.

If it has been accepted that the Nembutsu is a practice that leads to the hell of incessant suffering, then in what sense does the questioner ask if it is a good or an evil practice?

Ask whether the sutras upon which the questioner bases his beliefs belong to the category of provisional teachings or to that of the true teaching.

If the questioner asks whether, since you say that the Nembutsu leads to the hell of incessant suffering, the Lotus Sutra does not also lead to the hell of incessant suffering:

Answer by asking if the idea that the Lotus Sutra leads to the hell of incessant suffering is a view simply put forth by the Pure Land school, or whether there is some sutra passage to support it.

Ask whether the questioner, in asserting that the Lotus Sutra also leads to the hell of incessant suffering, would agree that the Nembutsu leads to the hell of incessant suffering.

Ask whether the questioner, in asserting that the Lotus Sutra too leads to the hell of incessant suffering, would acknowledge the fact that the founder of the Pure Land school slandered the sutra.

Ask whether, when the questioner speaks of the Lotus Sutra, he is referring to the Lotus Sutra that surpasses all the other sutras, or to the Lotus Sutra by means of which Amida was able to attain Buddhahood.1

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The questioner may also assert that, although in the exoteric teachings Mahāvairochana and Shakyamuni are regarded as names referring to a single Buddha, in the esoteric teachings they are taken to refer to two different Buddhas. If he explains that, though the names are the same in the two teachings, they have quite different meanings, and asks your opinion on this:

Reply by saying that this is precisely why the True Word teachings lead to the ruin of the nation.

Insist that, when making claims such as this, one must be prepared to produce sutra passages immediately to support one’s argument.

If the questioner asserts that the dragon king’s daughter attained Buddhahood through the power of the True Word teachings, and gives as the reason for this assertion the fact that the Lotus Sutra lacks any explanation of the three mysteries of body, mouth, and mind:

Reply by asking if this is simply the opinion of the True Word school, or if there are sutra passages to support it.

If the questioner then cites the passage in the Lotus Sutra that says that the dragon king’s daughter “has mastered the dhāranīs . . . and reached the level of no regression,”41 and claims that the word “dhāranī” here refers to the performance of the three mysteries:

Reply by asking if the view that the word “dhāranī” here refers to “true word,” or mantra, is simply the opinion of the True Word school, or if there are sutra passages to support it.

Point out the perverse nature of Kōbō’s view since, despite this reference to dhāranīs in the Lotus Sutra, he calls the sutra a work of childish theory and ranks it in third place.

Point out that he contradicts his own words by calling the Lotus Sutra “childish theory” because it lacks mudras and mantras when in fact it does have mudras.

If the questioner states that, according to the Protection Sutra,42 Shakyamuni studied the doctrine of the three mysteries under Mahāvairochana and thus was able to attain Buddhahood:

Reply by asking if this is the reason why the questioner slanders the Lotus Sutra.

Ask whether this sutra, the Protection Sutra, belongs to one of the three categories of sutras preached before, at the same time, or after the Lotus Sutra, or whether it is outside these categories.

Ask whether, if what is written in the Protection Sutra contradicts the truth, the questioner would agree that the True Word teachings without doubt lead to the ruin of the nation.

If the questioner quotes the passage from the Lotus Sutra that reads, “All press their palms and with reverent minds wish to hear the teaching of perfect endowment,”43 and asks why you reject mudras and mantras:

Reply by asking if this is why the questioner slanders the Lotus Sutra.

Ask whether this is simply the view of the True Word school, or whether there is some sutra passage to support it.

Ask whether the sutra passage just quoted in fact means that one should not reject the True Word teachings.

Ask whether this passage in fact means that one should embrace the True Word teachings.

Refute the questioner’s claims by discussing the passage in terms of its context.

If the questioner asks whether there is any sutra passage to prove that the Great Teacher Kōbō has fallen into the hell of incessant suffering:

Reply that there is such a passage.

If the questioner demands to know where in the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra any such passage is to be found:

Reply by asking whether, if such a passage exists, the questioner will agree that Kōbō has undoubtedly fallen into the hell of incessant suffering.

If he says yes, then ask whether he would agree that Kōbō slanders the Lotus Sutra.

If he says yes, then press your argument by producing the sutra passage that proves that slandering the Lotus Sutra leads to the hell of incessant suffering.44

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Background

Nichiren Daishonin produced this work in 1271. As the title Dialogues for Quick Victory suggests, it presents in concise language a guide for engaging in religious debate on the doctrines of major Buddhist schools. For each school, the Daishonin offers counterarguments to points of doctrine and contentions put forth by the other side.

Posing thirteen questions for the Pure Land school, eleven for the Zen school, six for the Tendai school, three for the True Word doctrine (i.e., the esoteric tradition) of Mount Hiei, and four for the True Word school of Tō-ji temple, the Daishonin shows how to refute their errors and cause them to reflect.

In all cases, he focuses the debate on the issue of each school’s slander of the Lotus Sutra. Strongly pressing the assertion that the teachings of each school do in fact slander the Lotus Sutra, he counters in a forceful yet logical manner any justification or rationalization of such slander put forward by the other side. In this way he exposes the faulty logic and contradictions inherent in the opponent’s position.

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Notes

1. Chapter seven of the Lotus Sutra says, “These disciples of the Buddha, these sixteen shrāmaneras, have now all attained supreme perfect enlightenment. In the lands in the ten directions they are at present preaching the Law. . . . Two are Buddhas in the western region, one named Amida, the other named Saving All from Worldly Suffering. . . . The sixteenth is I, Shakyamuni Buddha, who in this sahā land have attained supreme perfect enlightenment.”

41. Lotus Sutra, chap. 12.

42. A reference to the Dhāranī for the Protection of the Sovereign of the Nation Sutra, which was introduced to Japan by Kōbō.

43. Lotus Sutra, chap. 2.

44. Chapter three, “Simile and Parable,” of the Lotus Sutra says: “If a person fails to have faith but instead slanders this sutra, immediately he will destroy all the seeds for becoming a Buddha in this world. . . . When his life comes to an end he will enter the Avīchi hell.”

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