On Reprimanding Hachiman Chapter14

There are some of my disciples who, in their foolish way of thinking, declare: “Though our teacher tries to propagate the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, not only does he fail to do so but he meets with these great difficulties. This is because he goes around proclaiming that ‘True Word will ruin the nation, Nembutsu leads to the hell of incessant suffering, Zen is the work of the heavenly devil, and the Precepts priests are traitors to the nation.’ He is like a person who with good reason files a complaint, but peppers it with abusive language.”

I would reply to such disciples thus: If what you say is correct, then answer this question. When I urge all the True Word teachers, the Nembutsu believers, or the followers of the Zen school to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the True Word teachers say, “Our Great Teacher Kōbō declared that the Lotus Sutra is childish theory and Shakyamuni Buddha is in the region of darkness, and that the sutra is not fit to be a palanquin bearer or even a sandal tender. Rather than read and recite such a useless text, we do better to busy our mouths with even a single repetition of our little spells.”

The lay devotees of the Nembutsu say, “The Reverend Shan-tao declared that not one person in a thousand can be saved by the Lotus Sutra,²⁷ the Honorable Hōnen urged us to ‘discard, close, ignore, and abandon’ it,²⁸ and the Meditation Master Tao-ch’o said that not a single person has ever attained Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra.²⁹ This Nam-myoho-renge-kyo that you urge on us has an adverse effect on our Nembutsu practice. Even though we may be creating bad karma if we fail to do so, we will never recite it!”

And the followers of the Zen school say, “Our school represents a ‘separate transmission outside the sutras,’ the highest form of teaching and one that has been handed down independently from all the various sutras in the canon. The sutras are no more than a finger pointing at the moon, while Zen is the moon itself. T’ien-t’ai and those other foolish men occupied themselves with the finger and lost sight of the moon. The Lotus Sutra is the finger, Zen is the moon. Once you have glimpsed the moon, what need have you for the finger?”

Now tell me—when these men speak in this manner, how is one to make them swallow this good medicine of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo?

27. Praising Rebirth in the Pure Land.

28. Hōnen asserted that one should discard, close, ignore, and abandon all teachings and practices other than those relating to Amida Buddha and his Pure Land. He set this forth in The Nembutsu Chosen above All, though he did not use these four words in this particular form.

29. The Collected Essays on the World of Peace and Delight.