On Reprimanding Hachiman Chapter15
The Buddha, after first preaching the Āgama sutras for a time, then planned to lead the practitioners of those sutras into the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. But at that time all the voice-hearer disciples merely clung to the Āgama sutras and made no move to embrace the Lotus Sutra.
Pondering how to meet this situation, the Buddha then announced, “Though one may commit the five cardinal sins, or give alms to those who commit such sins, the faults thus incurred can become the seeds of Buddhahood. But the meritorious acts performed by these practitioners of the Āgama sutras can never become the seeds of Buddhahood.”
Though the Hinayana, or lesser vehicle, teachings differ from those of the Mahayana, or great vehicle, they are alike in both being the preachings of the Buddha. When the Buddha rejected the Hinayana and replaced it with the Mahayana, and when he in turn rejected the Mahayana and introduced his followers to the Lotus Sutra, he was rejecting different things, the Hinayana in one case and the Mahayana in the other; but his aim was the same in both cases, namely, to lead his followers to the Lotus Sutra. Therefore in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra he rejects the earlier Mahayana teachings by saying, “But in these more than forty years, I have not yet revealed the truth.” And in the Lotus Sutra he says, “[If I used a lesser vehicle to convert even one person, I would be guilty of stinginess and greed], but such a thing would be impossible.”30 The Buddha himself declared, “If, having appeared in this world, I should preach the Flower Garland and Wisdom sutras and then should enter nirvana without having preached the Lotus Sutra, I would be like a father who cannot bear to hand over his wealth to his beloved son, or like someone who refuses to give good medicine to an ailing person and lets the person die. I myself would deserve to fall into hell for such action.”31 What the Buddha speaks of as “impossible” means an act that condemns one to hell.
And how much more at fault are those who, after the Lotus Sutra has been preached, cling to the sutras that preceded it and refuse to embrace the Lotus Sutra! Such persons are like subjects who refuse to obey their ruler, or children who fail to come when their parents call them.
Even if one does not reject the Lotus Sutra, if one praises the sutras that preceded it, one is in effect slandering the Lotus Sutra. Miao-lo says, “If one praises the past, how can this fail to be a condemnation of the present?”32 And he also says, “Though one may set one’s mind on enlightenment, if one does not distinguish between the partial and the perfect teachings and understand what the Buddha has vowed to carry out, then although one may thereafter listen to expositions of the Law, can one escape the charge of slandering the Law?”33
Notes
31. Source unknown.
32. On “The Words and Phrases.”
33. Ibid.