- Background
- Chapter1(Citing the Assertions of the Founders of the True Word School)
- Chapter2(Revealing the Flower Garland and True Word Schools as Thieves of the Law)
- Chapter3(Refuting the Heretical Doctrine of "Equal in Principle, Superior in Practice")
- Chapter4(Demonstrating the Absence of the Bestowal of Buddhahood on Persons of the Two Vehicles and the Attainment of Buddhahood in the Remote Past in the Mahavairocana and Other Sutras)
- Chapter5(Refuting Kukai’s False Argument of “Tortoise Hair and Hare’s Horns”)
- Chapter6(Demonstrating that the Lotus Sutra Is the Teaching of the Buddha's True Intent)
Chapter5(Refuting Kukai’s False Argument of “Tortoise Hair and Hare’s Horns”)
The Reverend Kūkai not only failed to understand this principle, but in addition, borrowed a false interpretation of the Flower Garland school that had already been refuted in the past, and adopted the erroneous view that the Lotus Sutra is inferior even to the Flower Garland Sutra. This is like talking about the length of turtles’ fur or the existence of rabbits’ horns. Since there is no fur on a turtle’s shell, how can one argue over its length; since there are no horns on a rabbit’s head, how can one debate their existence?
Even someone [like Shan-wu-wei] who declared that the Lotus Sutra and the Mahāvairochana Sutra are the same in principle could not escape the censure of Yama. How then can someone who says that the Flower Garland Sutra is inferior to the Mahāvairochana Sutra, and that the Lotus Sutra is in turn inferior to the Flower Garland Sutra, escape the charge of slandering the correct teaching? Though the individuals involved may differ, the slander is the same. From this we can discern the reason why Kūkai’s principal disciple, the Administrator of Priests Kakinomoto no Ki, turned into a blue demon. Unless Kūkai has repented of his mistaken opinions and rectified them, he no doubt still remains in the evil paths. What then will be the fate of his followers?
Notes
14. Kakinomoto no Ki is Shinzei (800–860), a priest of the True Word school. In 856, he was appointed administrator of priests, the first True Word priest to receive this title. According to The Rise and Fall of the Genji and the Heike, when he conducted prayers for the recovery of the fifty-fifth emperor, Montoku, he fell in love with the emperor’s consort and transformed himself into a blue demon after his death in order to approach her.
Lecture
This chapter emphasizes that the Great Teacher Kobo (Kukai), unaware that the doctrine of “equal in principle, superior in practice” was an erroneous teaching, committed the grave slander of subordinating the Lotus Sutra to an even lower status, and stresses that he was bound to fall into the evil paths.
Regarding the distorted views of the Great Teacher Kobo, the founder of the True Word (Shingon) school in Japan, detailed explanation is given in the following passage from The Selection of the Time (Senji Sho):
“The Great Teacher Kōbō went to T’ang China during the Enryaku era, when the Great Teacher Dengyō went. There he studied the teachings of the True Word school under Hui-kuo of the temple called Ch’ing-lung-ssu. After returning to Japan, he pronounced judgment on the relative merits of the doctrines preached by Shakyamuni in the course of his life, declaring that the True Word teachings ranked first, the Flower Garland second, and those of the Lotus Sutra third.
The Great Teacher Kōbō enjoys a quite unusual amount of respect among the people of our time. However, although I hesitate to touch on such matters, in questions of the Buddhist teaching, he committed a rather unusual number of errors. If we stop to consider the matter in general, it would appear that when he went to China he merely learned the ritual mudras and mantras that are used by the True Word school and introduced these to Japan. But he does not seem to have delved into the doctrines of the school to any great extent. After he returned to Japan and observed the situation at the time, he saw that the Tendai school was flourishing to an unusual degree, and he concluded that it would be difficult to propagate the True Word doctrines that he himself adhered to. Therefore, he adopted the viewpoint of the Flower Garland school, whose doctrines he had studied earlier in Japan, declaring that the Flower Garland Sutra was superior to the Lotus Sutra. But he realized that, if he simply asserted the superiority of the Flower Garland Sutra over the Lotus Sutra in the same manner as the Flower Garland school, people would not be likely to pay much heed to his words. He consequently gave a new twist to the Flower Garland doctrine, declaring that his argument represented the true intent of the Mahāvairochana Sutra, Mind Aspiring for Enlightenment by Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna, and Shan-wu-wei, thus bolstering his position with absurd falsehoods. And yet the followers of the Tendai school failed to speak out strongly against him.” (WND-1, p. 566)
In this manner, the Daishonin refutes Kobo for employing the pernicious doctrine of “equal in principle, superior in practice” not only to subordinate the Lotus Sutra to the Mahavairocana Sutra, but to place it even below the Flower Garland Sutra—which is itself inferior to the Mahavairocana Sutra. The Daishonin declares, “Though the persons differ, their doctrine of slandering the Law is the same,” and sternly rebukes him: “If Kukai did not repent, there can be no doubt that he fell into the evil paths; and what will become of those who inherit his lineage?”
Thus, the Daishonin concisely sets forth the reasons why the Great Teacher Kobo committed a grave slander of the Law by introducing Shan-wu-wei and others’ heretical doctrine of “equal in principle, superior in practice” into Japan as it was and degrading the Lotus Sutra to the third rank as a mere teaching of “idle theory.” He warns that unless the True Word priests who carry on his lineage repent and return to the Correct Law, they too will surely fall into the evil paths.